Livestock production secures thousands of jobs across Europe

Omissions

• The claim significantly understates the actual employment impact - livestock production secures millions, not merely thousands, of jobs across Europe.
• The session date (2026-04-30) allows for data from 2023 or earlier. Eurostat data from 2026-01-16 indicates 8.4 million agricultural workers in 2023, down from 5.2% to 3.9% of the EU workforce since 2013.
• Livestock production includes not only farm employment but also related industries (meat processing, dairy, feed production, etc.), which would substantially increase the total job figure.
• The speaker, from an ECR group party (Denmark Democrats), may be making a conservative claim to emphasize the economic importance of livestock production.

Sources

• PrimaryEurostat - Key figures on food chain employment in agricultureEU agricultural employment was 8.4 million people in 2023, representing 3.9% of the EU workforce (down from 5.2% in 2013)
• PrimaryEurostat - Farmers and the agricultural labour force statisticsAgriculture remains a major employer within the EU; 8.7 million people worked in agriculture in 2020