In 2023, labour market slack accounted for 12.0% of the extended labour force, meaning that 27.1 million people aged 15 to 74 years in the EU were offering an unmatched supply of labour on the market, either because they were unemployed, underemployed, seeking a job even if not immediately available to work or immediately available to work but not seeking for. Labour market slack helps understand how much workforce is available but not fully productive. It is used to analyse employment dynamics and the overall health of an economy, since a low slack suggests the economy optimally exploits the supplied labour input. (....)