Among European Union countries in March 2025, Spain had the highest unemployment rate at 10.9 percent, followed by Finland at 9.4 percent. By contrast, Czechia has the lowest unemployment rate in Europe, at 2.6 percent. The overall rate of unemployment in the European Union was 5.8 percent in the same month - a historical low-point for unemployment in the EU, which had been at over 10 percent for much of the 2010s.

This dataset provides values for UNEMPLOYMENT RATE reported in several countries. The data includes current values, previous releases, historical highs and record lows, release frequency, reported unit and currency.

The statistic reflects the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in member states of the European Union in November 2024. The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in Spain in November 2024 was 11.2 percent.The unemployment rate represents the share of the unemployed in all potential employees available to the job market. Unemployment rates in the EU The unemployment rate is an important measure of a country or region’s economic health, and despite unemployment levels in the European Union falling slightly from a peak in early 2013 , they remain high, especially in comparison to what the rates were before the worldwide recession started in 2008. This confirms the continuing stagnation in European markets, which hits young job seekers particularly hard as they struggle to compete against older, more experienced workers for a job, suffering under jobless rates twice as high as general unemployment. Some companies, such as Microsoft and Fujitsu, have created thousands of jobs in some of the countries which have particularly dire unemployment rates, creating a beacon of hope. However, some industries such as information technology, face the conundrum of a deficit of qualified workers in the local unemployed work force, and have to hire workers from abroad instead of helping decrease the local unemployment rates. This skills mismatch has no quick solution, as workers require time for retraining to fill the openings in the growing science-, technology-, or engineering-based jobs, and too few students choose degrees that would help them obtain these positions. Worldwide unemployment also remains high, with the rates being worst in the Middle East and North Africa. Estimates by the International Labour Organization predict that the problem will stabilize in coming years, but not improve until at least 2017.

The statistic shows the seasonally adjusted youth unemployment rate in EU member states as of November 2024. The source defines youth unemployment as unemployment of those younger than 25 years. In November 2024, the seasonally adjusted youth unemployment rate in Spain was at 26.6 percent. Youth unemployment rate in EU member states Unemployment is a crucial economic factor for a country; youth unemployment is often examined separately because it tends to be higher than unemployment in older age groups. It comprises the unemployment figures of a country’s labor force aged 15 to 24 years old (i.e. the earliest point at which mandatory school education ends). Typically, teenagers and those in their twenties who are fresh out of education do not find jobs right away, especially if the country’s economy is experiencing difficulties, as can be seen above. Additionally, it also tends to be higher in emerging markets than in industrialized nations. Worldwide, youth unemployment figures have not changed significantly over the last decade, nor are they expected to improve in the next few years. Youth unemployment is most prevalent in the Middle East and North Africa, even though these regions report high unemployment figures regardless (Zimbabwe and Turkmenistan are among the countries with the highest unemployment rates in the world, for example), and are also highly populated areas with a rather weak infrastructure, compared to industrialized regions. In the European Union and the euro area, unemployment in general has been on the rise since 2008, which is due to the economic crisis which caused bankruptcy and financial trouble for many employers, and thus led to considerable job loss, less job offerings, and consequently, to a rise of the unemployment rate. Older workers are struggling to find new jobs despite their experience, and young graduates are struggling to find new jobs, because they have none. All in all, the number of unemployed persons worldwide is projected to rise, this is not down to the economic crisis alone, but also the industrial automation of processes previously performed by workers, as well as rising population figures.

This dataset provides values for UNEMPLOYMENT RATE reported in several countries. The data includes current values, previous releases, historical highs and record lows, release frequency, reported unit and currency.

This dataset provides values for YOUTH UNEMPLOYMENT RATE reported in several countries. The data includes current values, previous releases, historical highs and record lows, release frequency, reported unit and currency.

Key information about EU Unemployment Rate

• EU Unemployment Rate remained the same at 5.80% in Jan 2025, from the previously reported figure of 5.80% in Dec 2024.
• EU Unemployment Rate is updated monthly, available from Jan 2000 to Jan 2025, with an average rate of 9.30%.
• The data reached an all-time high of 11.70% in May 2013 and a record low of 5.80% in Jan 2025.
• The data is reported by reported by Eurostat.
• In the latest reports, EU Population reached 449.31 million people in Dec 2023.

As of June 2024, Spain had the highest youth unemployment rate in Europe, at 25.8 percent, with Sweden having the second-highest youth unemployment rate as of this month, at 23.8 percent. Across the 27 member states of the European Union, the overall youth unemployment rate was 14.6 percent, with Germany having the lowest youth unemployment rate of 6.8 percent.

As of 2025, there are nine countries which are official candidates to join the European Union, with Kosovo identified as a potential future candidate by the European Commission. To join the EU, countries must fulfill the Copenhagen Criteria, conditions which seek to ensure sufficient convergence in economic, political, and institutional/administrative matters between the candidate country and the EU before they are integrated into the bloc. Unemployment is a serious issue in many of the candidate countries for EU membership, with Moldova being the only country being below the EU average in this metric. While political and institutional concerns such as corruption, human rights issues, and the rule of law are seen as the main stumbling block for these countries to enter the EU, economic issues such as unemployment may also come to the fore in the coming years. Many citizens of current EU countries fear that newer member states will drive down wages, and this is particularly so for countries with large numbers of unemployed workers. High unemployment rates may also signal that these countries will experience a migration wave to other EU member states once their citizens attain the right to free movement within the Union.

Graph and download economic data for Unemployment Rate: Aged 15-64: All Persons for the Euro Area (19 Countries) (LRUN64TTEZA156N) from 2005 to 2022 about 15 to 64 years, Euro Area, Europe, unemployment, and rate.

EU Unemployment Rate: Euro Area data was reported at 8.000 % in Jun 2018. This records a decrease from the previous number of 8.200 % for May 2018. EU Unemployment Rate: Euro Area data is updated monthly, averaging 9.000 % from Jan 1983 (Median) to Jun 2018, with 426 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 12.700 % in Feb 2013 and a record low of 7.200 % in Jul 2008. EU Unemployment Rate: Euro Area data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Eurostat. The data is categorized under Global Database’s EU – Table EU.G010: Eurostat: Unemployment Rate.

Graph and download economic data for Youth Unemployment Rate for Developing Countries in Europe and Central Asia (SLUEM1524ZSECA) from 1991 to 2024 about Central Asia, Europe, unemployment, and rate.

Graph and download economic data for Unemployment Rate: Aged 15-64: Females for the Euro Area (19 Countries) (LRUN64FEEZQ156S) from Q1 2005 to Q4 2022 about 15 to 64 years, females, Euro Area, Europe, unemployment, and rate.

Youth Unemployment Rate in European Union increased to 14.80 percent in May from 14.70 percent in April of 2025. This dataset provides the latest reported value for - European Union Youth Unemployment Rate - plus previous releases, historical high and low, short-term forecast and long-term prediction, economic calendar, survey consensus and news.

In 2024, ****************** had the lowest unemployment rate among Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries, at *** percent and *** percent, respectively. On the other hand, the highest unemployment rate was recorded in Estonia and Lithuania. The average unemployment rate in all European Union member states amounted to *** percent in this period.

Context

The data contains unemployment information by sex and age for European Union. The time span is from Jan 1983 to recent months (depends on the latest update, version 3 in under July 2020).

The data fields meaning is explained on Eurostat site, Unemployment by sex and age – monthly data - Reference Metadata in Euro SDMX Metadata Structure (ESMS)

The age groups are:
* TOTAL - all group ages;
* Y_LT25 - less than 25 years old;
* Y25_74 - between 25 and 74 years old.

The data units are:

• PC_ACT - Percentage Active Population
• THS_PER - Thousands Person.

The sex groups are:

• T - all;
• M - male;
• F - female.

Acknowledgements

The data provenance is EU Open Data Portal, https://data.europa.eu/euodp/en/data/dataset/OEEyFHYAWVNRYGMFhUzzw

Inspiration

Analyze the variation of unemployment per total or ages interval, per countries or overall, on a long time period or focusing on few years. Verify which age groups were most affected by COVID-19 in Europe.

Euro Area - Unemployment rate was 6.40% in December of 2024, according to the EUROSTAT. Trading Economics provides the current actual value, an historical data chart and related indicators for Euro Area - Unemployment rate - last updated from the EUROSTAT on July of 2025. Historically, Euro Area - Unemployment rate reached a record high of 12.20% in December of 2013 and a record low of 6.40% in December of 2024.

Since the oil price shock in 1974 unemployment increased significantly and also did not really decline in periods of economic upswings in Europe. This is especially the case for the countries of the European Union; therefore we face a special need for explanation. Looking at the member states on finds considerable differences. Since 1977 the unemployment rate within the EU is higher than the average unemployment rate of all OECD countries. The economic upswing in the second half of the 80s relaxed the labor market but nevertheless the unemployment rate remained on a high level. This study deals with the development of unemployment between 1974 and 1993 in four different G7 countries: Germany, France, Great Britain and Italy.

Besides the common trend of an increasing unemployment rate, there are significantly different developments within the four countries. The analysis is divided in two parts: the first part looks at the reasons for the increase in unemployment in the considered countries; the second part aims to explain the difference between the developments of unemployment during economic cycles in the different countries.

After the description of similarities and differences of labor markets in the four countries it follows a long term analysis based on annual data as well as a short and medium term analysis on quarterly data. This is due to the fact that short and medium term developments are mainly influenced by cyclical economic developments but long term developments are mainly influenced by other factors like demographical and structural changes. A concrete question within this framework is if an increase in production potential can contribute to a decrease in unemployment.

For the long term analysis among others the Hysteresis-hypothesis (Hysteresis = Greek: to remain; denotes the remaining effect; in this context: remaining of unemployment) used for the explanation of the persistence of a high unemployment rate.

According to this approach consisting unemployment is barely decreased after economic recovery despite full utilization of capacity. According to the Hysteresis-hypothesis there are two reasons for this. The first reason is that for long term unemployed the abilities to work and the qualification level decreased, their human capital is partly devalued. The second reason is that employees give up wage restraint, because they do not fear unemployment anymore and therefore enforce higher real wages. Besides economic recovery companies are not willing to hire long term unemployed with a lower expected productivity for the higher established tariff wages. In the context of the empirical investigation a multiple explanatory approach is chosen which takes supply side and demand side factors into consideration.

The short and medium term analysis refers to Okun´s law (=an increase in the unemployment rate is connected with a decrease of the GDP; if the unemployment rate stays unchanged, the GDP grows with 3% p.a.) and aims to analyze more detailed the reactions of unemployment to economic cycles. A geometrical lag-model is compared with a lag-model ager Almon. This should ensure a precise as possible analysis of the Okun´s relations and coefficients.

Register of tables in HISTAT:

A.: Unemployment in the European G7 countries B.: Analysis of unemployment in the Federal Republic of Germany C.: Basic numbers: International comparison

A.: Unemployment in the European G7 countries A.1. Determinates of unemployment in the EU, Germany (1974-1993) A.2. Determinates of unemployment in the EU, France (1974-1993) A.3. Determinates of unemployment in the EU, Great Britain (1974-1993) A.4. Determinates of unemployment in the EU, Italy (1974-1993)

B: Analysis of unemployment in the Federal Republic of Germany B.1. Growth of unemployment in the Federal Republic of Germany (1984-1991) B.2. Output and unemployment in the Federal Republic of Germany (1961-1990)

C: Basic numbers: International comparison C.1. Unemployment in EU countries, the USA, Japan and Switzerland (1960-1996) C.2. Gainful employments in EU countries, the USA, Japan and Switzerland (after inland and residency concept) (1960-1996) C.3. Employees in EU countries, the USA and Japan (1960-1996) C.4. Population in EU countries, the USA and Japan (1960-1996)

Graph and download economic data for Unemployment Rate: Aged 15-24: Males for the Euro Area (19 Countries) (LRUN24MAEZQ156S) from Q1 2005 to Q4 2022 about 15 to 24 years, males, Euro Area, Europe, unemployment, and rate.

Historical dataset showing European Union youth unemployment rate by year from 1991 to 2024.