Nearly one in five jobs across the European Union is vulnerable because of low pay, insecure employment or limited workplace rights, with Spain recording the highest rate, according to a new report by Eurofound.

The agency defines employment vulnerability as a combination of inadequate income, employment insecurity and a lack of workplace rights. Its latest analysis found that 18.8% of jobs in the EU met at least one of those criteria in 2021, the most recent year with comparable income data.

The overall trend has improved over the past decade. Vulnerability rose from 21.4% in 2009 to 23.8% in 2014 following the financial crisis, driven partly by an increase in involuntary temporary and part-time work. The rate then declined steadily from 2016, falling below its pre-crisis level.

Spain recorded the highest rate in the report at 29%, followed by Portugal and Luxembourg at 25% and Italy at 24%. Hungary recorded 17%, while Malta and Bulgaria each stood at 18%.

Data for 2021 was unavailable for Cyprus, Czechia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Sweden, which were excluded from the comparison.

The reasons for vulnerability vary across Europe. Low pay is the main factor in countries including Germany, Austria and several central and eastern European states. In Bulgaria, low income accounted for nearly three quarters of vulnerable employment in the report’s 2019 analysis.

In other countries, job insecurity is more significant. Involuntary temporary and part-time work plays a major role in several Mediterranean and Nordic countries and accounted for 56% of vulnerability in Ireland, the highest proportion recorded in the EU.

Eurofound said women, young people, migrants, Roma, people with disabilities and LGBT+ workers are more likely to experience vulnerable employment. Discrimination, care responsibilities, legal barriers and unrecognised qualifications can all increase the risk.

Education provides significant protection. In Hungary, 58% of workers with low levels of education were considered vulnerable, compared with 6% of graduates.

Experience also reduces the risk, with each additional year in the labour market associated with an average one percentage point decline in vulnerability.

The report warned that the greatest harm occurs when several disadvantages overlap. Workers facing multiple forms of vulnerability are more likely to experience poor career prospects, limited training opportunities, less autonomy and unpredictable earnings.

They also report higher levels of anxiety and depression.

Eurofound said policymakers must preserve flexibility while ensuring that temporary and other non-standard forms of employment do not weaken job quality. It also stressed that effective labour inspections are essential to enforce workplace protections.

Oil prices rose sharply on Monday after renewed fighting between the United States and Iran heightened concerns about the security of energy supplies passing through the Strait of Hormuz, a vital shipping route for global crude exports.

Brent crude, the international benchmark, gained 3.2 percent in early trading to reach $90.95 per barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate crude advanced 2.8 percent to $84.04 per barrel. The increases came after the United States carried out a ninth consecutive night of strikes against Iranian targets, with Tehran responding by launching attacks against US allies across the Middle East.

The latest escalation has intensified fears that prolonged conflict could disrupt one of the world’s busiest oil transit routes. The Strait of Hormuz carries around one-fifth of global oil shipments, making any interruption a major concern for energy markets.

ING commodities strategists Warren Patterson and Ewa Manthey said the continuing exchange of attacks between Washington and Tehran was raising the risk of wider instability across the Gulf.

“The US and Iran continue to exchange strikes, which are proving to be deadly for both sides,” the analysts said in a market note. They warned that if the conflict continues to escalate, it could lead to widespread attacks across the Persian Gulf.

They also noted that tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz had slowed significantly, increasing concerns over oil supplies and contributing to the upward movement in crude prices.

The renewed geopolitical tensions added to uncertainty across global financial markets, where investors have already become cautious following strong gains in technology stocks linked to artificial intelligence.

AI-related shares, including semiconductor manufacturers, fell on Friday as investors questioned whether heavy investment in artificial intelligence could be creating excessive market valuations. Many traders chose to lock in profits after months of strong performance in the sector.

Jonas Goltermann, chief markets economist at Capital Economics, said the worsening conflict in the Gulf could place additional pressure on global markets.

He said the return of military confrontation around the Strait of Hormuz may increasingly weigh on investor sentiment, particularly if strong earnings from major technology companies continue to receive a cautious response from markets.

Investor confidence was also affected by the release of another advanced artificial intelligence model from China. Beijing-based Moonshot AI introduced its open-source Kimi K3 model, prompting fresh debate about growing competition in the AI industry.

Market observers compared the reaction to the release of China’s DeepSeek model earlier in 2025, which unsettled global technology stocks by demonstrating that lower-cost Chinese AI developers could compete with established international companies such as Anthropic and OpenAI.

With military tensions in the Middle East showing little sign of easing and investors monitoring developments in both energy and technology sectors, markets are expected to remain volatile in the days ahead.

Europe’s housing market staged a broad recovery in 2025, with home sales increasing in 17 out of 20 countries as lower borrowing costs encouraged buyers to return to the market despite continued rises in property prices.

New data from Eurostat showed that housing activity strengthened across much of the continent after a period of weaker demand linked to higher interest rates. Belgium and Austria were among the strongest performers, recording annual sales growth of more than 20%, while Slovenia posted the largest percentage increase at 29.9%.

According to the European Central Bank, residential property remains the largest source of household wealth in the eurozone, making housing activity a key indicator of economic confidence.

Mikk Kalmet, a real estate adviser at Global Property Guide, said residential property transactions are influenced by several factors, including mortgage affordability, interest rates, household incomes, employment levels, consumer confidence and the availability of housing.

The data revealed considerable differences between national markets. Croatia recorded the weakest performance, with home sales falling 4.1% during the year. Bulgaria and Poland also reported modest declines of 2.5% and 1.1%, respectively.

Among countries posting gains, Luxembourg recorded an 18.6% increase in transactions, followed by Hungary at 17.3%, the Netherlands at 13.9%, Denmark at 12.7%, France at 11.2% and Portugal at 10.5%. Latvia, Finland and Norway also registered strong growth, with annual increases close to 10%.

Of Europe’s largest economies, comparable data was available for France and Spain. Home sales in Spain increased by 5.4%, while France recorded one of the strongest recoveries after experiencing a decline the previous year.

Kalmet said the improvement reflected better financing conditions and the release of demand that had been postponed during the period of elevated interest rates.

France also recorded the highest number of transactions among countries with available data, with more than one million homes changing hands in 2025. House prices in France remained relatively stable, rising only 0.1% between the first quarters of 2025 and 2026.

The Netherlands recorded about 265,000 home sales, while Hungary, Belgium, Portugal and Norway each reported between 130,000 and 160,000 transactions. Slovenia registered the strongest percentage growth but remained the smallest market, with around 11,000 sales.

Croatia stood out as an exception to the wider European recovery. Despite property prices increasing by 14.3% and rents surging 39.1% over the year, the country recorded its fourth consecutive annual decline in home sales. Kalmet said domestic factors continued to weigh on Croatia’s housing market even as demand improved elsewhere across Europe.

He added that stabilising Euribor and other lending rates had restored confidence among buyers from late 2024 onward. At the same time, high construction costs and limited new housing supply continue to constrain the market, suggesting that affordability and inventory challenges remain significant issues across much of Europe.