Unemployment Rate In the Euro Area increased to 6.30 percent in May from 6.20 percent in April of 2025. This dataset provides the latest reported value for - Euro Area Unemployment Rate - plus previous releases, historical high and low, short-term forecast and long-term prediction, economic calendar, survey consensus and news.

The unemployment rate in the European Union and the Euro area from 2013 to 2024 has a decreasing trend. In 2024, the average unemployment rate in the EU was 5.9 percent.

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.

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.

Long Term Unemployment Rate In the Euro Area increased to 2.10 percent in the first quarter of 2025 from 2 percent in the fourth quarter of 2024. This dataset provides the latest reported value for - Euro Area Long Term Unemployment Rate - plus previous releases, historical high and low, short-term forecast and long-term prediction, economic calendar, survey consensus and news.

Graph and download economic data for Harmonised Unemployment - Monthly Levels: Total: Males for the Euro Area (19 Countries) (LFHUTTMAEZM647S) from Jan 1995 to Jan 2023 about males, Euro Area, Europe, and unemployment.

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.

Unemployment in the European Union has reached its low point in the twenty-first century in 2025. The share of the labour force out of work was slighly under 5.8 percent between January and March of that year, a marked decrease from its most recent peak of 7.8 percent in the Summer of 2020. While the jobs recovery has been strong in the wake of the Coronavirus pandemic in the EU, this number is still far above the remarkably low rate in the United States, which has reached 4.3 percent in 2024. Nevertheless, this recent decline is a positive development for the EU countries, many of which have long suffered from chronic unemployment issues. In some regional labour markets in the EU, the issue is now less of people who can't find work, but employers who cannot find employees, leading to labour shortages. The sick men of Europe Several EU member states have long had high unemployment rates, with the large numbers of people in long-term unemployment being particularly concerning. Italy, France, Greece, Spain, and Portugal have all had double-digit unemployment rates for significant amounts of time during this period, with the ability of people to freely migrate to other EU countries for work only marginally decreasing this. While these countries have long dealt with these issues due to their declining legacy industries and the struggle of competing in a liberalized, globalized economy, their unemployment rates reached their highest points following the global financial crisis, great recession, and Eurozone crisis. These interconnected crises led to a period of prolonged stagnation in their economies, with unemployment reaching as high as 25 percent in Greece, the worst affected economy.

Unemployment Rate in European Union remained unchanged at 5.90 percent in May. This dataset provides the latest reported value for - European Union Unemployment Rate - plus previous releases, historical high and low, short-term forecast and long-term prediction, economic calendar, survey consensus and news.

Graph and download economic data for Youth Unemployment Rate for the Euro Area (SLUEM1524ZSEMU) from 1991 to 2024 about Euro Area, Europe, unemployment, and rate.

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.

Euro Area unemployment rate for 2024 was 6.41%, a 0.15% decline from 2023.

<ul style='margin-top:20px;'>

<li>Euro Area unemployment rate for 2023 was <strong>6.56%</strong>, a <strong>0.18% decline</strong> from 2022.</li>
<li>Euro Area unemployment rate for 2022 was <strong>6.75%</strong>, a <strong>0.97% decline</strong> from 2021.</li>
<li>Euro Area unemployment rate for 2021 was <strong>7.72%</strong>, a <strong>0.11% decline</strong> from 2020.</li>
</ul>Unemployment refers to the share of the labor force that is without work but available for and seeking employment.

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.

According to the projections of the staff of the Eurosystem - the group of central banks of the countries which use the Euro as their currency - the unemployment rate in the Eurozone is set to increase slightly in 2024, rising from 6.5 to 6.6 percent. In the years following, the unemployment rate of the Eurozone is then projected to slowly decline, reaching 6.4 percent in 2026.

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.

Graph and download economic data for Total Harmonized Unemployment: All Persons for the European Union (LFHUTTTTEUM647N) from Jan 2000 to Jan 2020 about EU, Europe, and unemployment.

European Union Unemployment: Euro Area 20 data was reported at 11,218.000 Person th in Mar 2025. This records a decrease from the previous number of 11,258.000 Person th for Feb 2025. European Union Unemployment: Euro Area 20 data is updated monthly, averaging 13,771.000 Person th from Jan 2000 (Median) to Mar 2025, with 303 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 20,688.000 Person th in Feb 2013 and a record low of 10,474.000 Person th in Nov 2024. European Union Unemployment: Euro Area 20 data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Eurostat. The data is categorized under Global Database’s European Union – Table EU.G: Eurostat: Unemployment.

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.

Monthly unemployment across the EU generally fell throughout 2019, reaching a low of 6.5 percent in March 2020 - thereafter, the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic saw a sharp rise in unemployment, peaking at 7.8 percent in August. Unemployment remained high throughout the pandemic's first year, before falling in its second year, when it then fell to pre-pandemic levels 18 months after it began. From January to July 2024, unemployment in the EU remained fairly consistent at around six percent.

The average for 2023 based on 27 countries was 15.58 percent. The highest value was in Spain: 28.7 percent and the lowest value was in Germany: 5.96 percent. The indicator is available from 1991 to 2023. Below is a chart for all countries where data are available.