Columnista

The four things this section reports

Reported demand

Whether employers report needing people in this job — a judgement published by a national or EU body, not a count.

Where it is heading

Which way employment in this job is expected to move over the coming years, from an official projection.

Openings

Roughly how many openings arise — from growth and from people leaving the job.

Typical pay

What people in this job typically earn where the source publishes it. Blank does not mean unpaid; it means nobody publishes it for that place.

A measure is left out when nobody publishes it for that place, rather than shown as zero.

Which way the market leans for you

In your favour

More openings than people looking — employers are competing for candidates.

Balanced

Openings and candidates are roughly matched.

Competitive

More people looking than openings — expect to compete.

Mixed evidence

Sources disagree, or the same occupation group is short in one part and oversupplied in another.

Every source resolves to one of these four, so there is a single vocabulary to learn. What differs is the evidence behind it, which is printed underneath each verdict — a measured ratio of openings to jobseekers, or an assessment published by a national body.

How this job compares with other jobs in the same country

Strong

Among the strongest in that country

Good

Stronger than most jobs in that country

Mixed

About typical for that country

Weak

Weaker than most jobs in that country

This is a rank within one country, not a score you can carry across borders — the registers behind two countries count different people, so the same number means different things in each. It is also why a job can be among the strongest in a country and still show as Competitive: it leads the field in a market that is crowded overall.

Where these come from

Every figure is published by a national statistics office, a public employment service or an EU body, and each card names its source and the period it covers. Some places are counted monthly, others assessed once or twice a year, so two places on the same map can be describing different moments — the date is always shown.

None of this predicts one person's chances. It describes a market.