Euro area unemployment at 6.5% (2024)

Euro indicators 1 August 2024 Next release: 30 August 2024

June 2024

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EU at 6.0%

Overview

In June 2024, the euro area seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate was 6.5%, up from 6.4% in May 2024 and stable compared with June 2023. The EU unemployment rate was 6.0% in June 2024, stable compared with May 2024 as well as with June 2023. These figures are published by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.

Eurostat estimates that 13.258 million persons in the EU, of whom 11.122 million in the euro area, were unemployed in June 2024.

  • Compared with May 2024, unemployment increased by 52 thousand in the EU and by 41 thousand in the euro area.

  • Compared with June 2023, unemployment increased by 188 thousand in the EU and by 81 thousand in the euro area.

Euro area unemployment at 6.5% (1)

Youth unemployment

In June 2024, 2.831 million young persons (under 25) were unemployed in the EU, of whom 2.270 million were in the euro area. In June 2024, the youth unemployment rate was 14.4% in the EU, down from 14.5% in May 2024, and 14.1% in the euro area, down from 14.2% in the previous month.

  • Compared with May 2024, youth unemployment decreased by 2thousand in the EU and by 20 thousand in the euro area.

  • Compared with June 2023, youth unemployment increased by 18 thousand in the EU and by 8 thousand in the euro area.

Euro area unemployment at 6.5% (2)

Unemployment by sex

In June 2024, the unemployment rate for women was 6.3% in the EU, stable compared with May 2024, and the unemployment rate for men was 5.8%, also stable compared with the previous month. In the euro area, the unemployment rate for women was 6.8%, up from 6.7% in previous month, and the unemployment rate for men was 6.2%, stable compared with May 2024.

Additional labour market indicators

The estimates in this News Release are based on the globally used International Labour Organisation (ILO) standard definition of unemployment, which counts as unemployed people without a job who have been actively seeking work in the last four weeks and are available to start work within the next two weeks.

To capture in full the labour market situation, the data on unemployment have been complemented by additional indicators, e.g. underemployed part-time workers, persons seeking work but not immediately available and persons available to work but not seeking, released together with LFS data for the first quarter of 2024.

LFS data for the second quarter of 2024 will be released on 13 September 2024.

Tables

Seasonally adjusted unemployment, totals

Rates (%)

Number of persons (in thousands)

2023

2024

2023

2024

Jun

Mar

Apr

May

June

Jun

Mar

Apr

May

June

Euro area

6.5

6.5

6.4

6.4

6.5

11 041

11 143

11 047

11 081

11 122

EU

6.0

6.0

6.0

6.0

6.0

13 070

13 295

13 198

13 206

13 258

Belgium

5.6

5.7

5.8

5.9

5.9

295

306

311

316

315

Bulgaria

4.5

4.6

4.6

4.5

4.5

137

144

142

139

141

Czechia

2.6

2.9

2.8

2.7

2.7

137

151

144

139

141

Denmark

4.7

5.7

5.8

5.8

5.9

149

186

188

189

190

Germany

3.0

3.3

3.3

3.4

3.4

1 312

1 468

1 485

1 495

1 496

Estonia

7.1

7.6

7.5

7.4

7.4

53

57

57

56

56

Ireland

4.4

4.0

4.0

4.0

4.2

121

114

112

113

117

Greece

11.4

10.6

10.4

10.3

9.6

543

505

502

487

457

Spain

11.9

11.7

11.7

11.6

11.5

2 880

2 857

2 843

2 842

2 831

France

7.4

7.4

7.3

7.4

7.4

2 271

2 310

2 275

2 298

2 319

Croatia

6.2

5.5

5.4

5.3

5.3

105

94

92

91

90

Italy

7.5

7.1

6.9

6.9

7.0

1 914

1 817

1 764

1 769

1 792

Cyprus

6.2

5.0

4.5

4.2

4.4

31

24

22

20

21

Latvia

6.6

6.8

6.8

6.7

6.7

62

65

65

64

63

Lithuania

6.4

7.5

7.5

7.7

8.2

98

119

119

122

131

Luxembourg

5.1

5.6

5.6

5.7

5.7

17

19

19

19

19

Hungary

4.0

4.3

4.4

4.3

4.3

195

215

217

215

214

Malta

3.0

3.0

3.1

3.2

3.1

9

10

10

10

10

Netherlands

3.5

3.6

3.7

3.6

3.6

353

371

375

367

370

Austria

5.1

4.9

4.8

5.1

5.3

240

232

227

241

249

Poland

2.8

2.9

3.0

3.0

3.0

495

523

528

530

532

Portugal

6.3

6.5

6.4

6.5

6.7

333

347

344

348

361

Romania

5.7

5.2

5.3

5.4

5.5

459

440

444

452

447

Slovenia

3.8

3.3

3.3

3.2

3.1

39

34

34

33

32

Slovakia

5.8

5.6

5.6

5.5

5.5

161

155

154

154

153

Finland

7.2

8.0

8.1

8.2

8.3

205

228

231

234

236

Sweden

7.6

8.3

8.3

8.3

8.3

432

475

476

477

477

Iceland

2.2

:

:

:

:

5

:

:

:

:

Norway

3.5

4.0

4.1

4.1

4.1

106

121

123

124

124

Switzerland

4.0

4.1

:

:

:

202

210

:

:

:

United States

3.6

3.8

3.9

4.0

4.1

5 980

6 432

6 436

6 614

6 807

: Data not available

Source datasets: une_rt_m (rates) and une_rt_m (in 1 000 persons)

Euro area unemployment at 6.5% (3)

Seasonally adjusted youth (under 25s) unemployment

Rates (%)

Number of persons (in thousands)

2023

2024

2023

2024

Jun

Mar

Apr

May

June

Jun

Mar

Apr

May

June

Euro area

14.2

14.4

14.2

14.2

14.1

2 262

2 309

2 285

2 290

2 270

EU

14.5

14.7

14.5

14.5

14.4

2 813

2 889

2 843

2 833

2 831

Belgium

14.7

16.7

16.4

16.4

16.4

63

71

71

71

71

Bulgaria

12.7

15.0

14.5

14.0

14.0

15

20

19

18

18

Czechia

11.4

7.5

8.2

9.1

9.7

33

21

23

26

28

Denmark

9.4

14.5

12.0

13.3

14.3

43

74

57

65

73

Germany

5.7

6.2

6.2

6.2

6.2

258

289

290

290

290

Estonia

18.8

16.9

20.7

22.8

22.0

11

10

13

14

14

Ireland

10.7

9.1

8.1

7.7

8.1

38

33

29

27

29

Greece

24.5

23.1

22.6

23.3

22.5

65

59

60

59

55

Spain

27.7

27.1

26.7

26.6

25.9

475

476

472

475

465

France

17.0

18.1

17.8

17.8

17.8

572

615

605

609

612

Croatia

18.5

17.9

17.5

17.5

17.5

22

21

21

21

21

Italy

23.0

20.3

20.3

20.5

20.5

351

304

305

305

304

Cyprus

17.8

15.3

10.6

10.6

10.6

8

6

4

4

4

Latvia

9.8

10.1

10.0

9.8

9.1

6

7

7

7

6

Lithuania

12.3

10.6

14.3

15.2

16.3

12

10

14

15

17

Luxembourg

18.0

19.2

19.4

19.6

19.4

5

5

5

5

5

Hungary

13.6

15.2

14.2

13.1

12.7

41

48

45

42

41

Malta

8.7

8.2

7.5

8.1

8.4

2

2

2

2

2

Netherlands

8.3

8.7

8.7

8.4

8.6

151

158

159

154

157

Austria

10.4

9.9

9.0

9.9

9.3

56

52

46

50

49

Poland

11.5

11.9

12.0

11.8

11.8

129

132

133

133

133

Portugal

18.6

22.6

21.7

23.3

22.9

73

86

81

87

84

Romania

21.8

20.5

:

:

:

102

104

:

:

:

Slovenia

10.4

9.4

7.8

7.8

7.8

8

8

6

6

6

Slovakia

20.4

20.7

20.6

20.5

20.2

30

30

29

29

28

Finland

16.6

18.1

18.1

17.9

17.7

54

59

59

58

58

Sweden

21.4

23.9

23.9

24.0

23.9

146

163

165

165

166

Iceland

4.8

:

:

:

:

2

:

:

:

:

Norway

10.4

11.8

13.8

12.8

12.2

45

51

61

56

54

Switzerland

8.1

8.7

:

:

:

48

50

:

:

:

: Data not available

Belgium, Croatia, Cyprus, Romania and Slovenia: quarterly data

Source datasets: une_rt_m (rates) and une_rt_m (in 1 000 persons)

Euro area unemployment at 6.5% (4)

Seasonally adjusted unemployment rates (%), by gender

Males

Females

2023

2024

2023

2024

Jun

Mar

Apr

May

June

Jun

Mar

Apr

May

June

Euro area

6.2

6.2

6.2

6.2

6.2

6.8

6.9

6.7

6.7

6.8

EU

5.7

5.8

5.8

5.8

5.8

6.3

6.4

6.3

6.3

6.3

Belgium

6.2

6.4

6.6

6.6

6.6

4.9

4.9

5.0

5.1

5.1

Bulgaria

4.5

4.7

4.6

4.4

4.5

4.5

4.6

4.5

4.5

4.5

Czechia

2.3

2.3

2.3

2.4

2.5

3.0

3.6

3.3

3.0

3.1

Denmark

4.4

5.5

5.8

5.3

5.5

5.1

5.8

5.7

6.3

6.3

Germany

3.2

3.6

3.6

3.7

3.7

2.7

3.0

3.0

3.0

3.0

Estonia

6.7

7.0

7.0

7.3

7.2

7.4

8.2

8.0

7.5

7.5

Ireland

4.5

3.9

3.9

3.9

4.0

4.2

4.2

4.1

4.2

4.3

Greece

9.0

7.9

8.3

7.9

7.5

14.4

13.9

12.9

13.2

12.2

Spain

10.5

10.5

10.3

10.3

10.2

13.5

13.2

13.1

13.1

13.0

France

7.4

7.5

7.4

7.5

7.5

7.3

7.3

7.2

7.3

7.3

Croatia

5.7

4.9

4.9

4.9

5.0

6.7

6.1

5.9

5.7

5.6

Italy

6.8

6.1

6.1

6.2

6.2

8.5

8.3

7.9

7.8

8.0

Cyprus

6.3

4.7

4.1

3.8

4.0

6.1

5.2

4.9

4.6

4.7

Latvia

8.1

7.4

7.0

6.8

6.8

5.1

6.4

6.6

6.6

6.5

Lithuania

7.0

7.7

7.8

7.8

8.2

5.9

7.3

7.1

7.6

8.3

Luxembourg

4.8

5.5

5.5

5.7

5.6

5.5

5.7

5.7

5.7

5.7

Hungary

4.0

4.4

4.4

4.4

4.3

3.9

4.2

4.3

4.2

4.3

Malta

3.0

3.4

3.6

3.6

3.6

3.0

2.6

2.5

2.5

2.4

Netherlands

3.3

3.5

3.6

3.5

3.5

3.7

3.8

3.8

3.7

3.8

Austria

5.2

4.9

5.0

5.7

5.6

5.0

4.9

4.6

4.5

4.8

Poland

2.8

2.7

2.8

2.8

2.8

2.8

3.2

3.2

3.2

3.2

Portugal

6.0

5.6

5.8

6.0

6.5

6.6

7.3

7.1

7.0

7.0

Romania

6.0

5.4

5.5

5.5

5.6

5.3

4.9

4.9

5.3

5.2

Slovenia

3.9

2.9

2.8

2.8

2.6

3.6

3.7

3.8

3.8

3.7

Slovakia

5.7

5.1

5.1

5.1

5.1

5.9

6.1

6.0

6.0

6.0

Finland

7.9

8.9

9.1

9.3

9.4

6.5

7.1

7.1

7.1

7.1

Sweden

7.4

8.3

8.3

8.3

8.3

7.8

8.3

8.3

8.3

8.3

Iceland

3.4

:

:

:

:

0.7

:

:

:

:

Norway

3.6

4.2

4.5

4.3

4.3

3.4

3.8

4.1

3.9

3.9

Switzerland

3.8

4.0

:

:

:

4.1

4.3

:

:

:

: Data not available

Source dataset: une_rt_m

Euro area unemployment at 6.5% (5)

Notes for users

Revisions and timetable

The data in this News Release can be subject to revisions, caused by updates to the seasonally adjusted series whenever new monthly data are added; the inclusion of the most recent LFS data in the calculation process; update of seasonal adjustment models with complete annual data.

Compared with the rates published in News Release of 2 July 2024, the May 2024 unemployment rate for the EU and the unemployment rate for the euro area remained unchanged. Among EU Member States, the rate has been revised by more than 0.1 percentage points (pp) downwards for Greece (by 0.3 pp). The rate has not been revised by more than 0.1 percentage points (pp) upwards for any Member States.

Country notes

Germany, the Netherlands, Finland, Sweden as well as Iceland and Norway: the trend component is used instead of the more volatile seasonally adjusted data.

Estonia and Portugal: 3-month moving averages of LFS data are used instead of pure monthly indicators.

Methods and definitions

Eurostat publishes harmonised unemployment rates for individual EU Member States, the euro area and the EU. These unemployment rates are based on the definition recommended by the International Labour Organisation (ILO). The measurement is based on a harmonised data source, the European Union Labour Force Survey (LFS).

Based on the ILO definition, Eurostat defines unemployed persons as persons aged 15 to 74 who:

  • are without work;

  • are available to start work within the next two weeks;

  • and have actively sought employment at some time during the previous four weeks.

The unemployment rate is the number of people unemployed as a percentage of the labour force.

The labour force is the total number of people employed plus unemployed. In this news release unemployment rates are based on employment and unemployment data covering persons aged 15 to 74.

The youth unemployment rate is the number of people aged 15 to 24 unemployed as a percentage of the labour force of the same age. Therefore, the youth unemployment rate should not be interpreted as the share of jobless people in the overall youth population.

When data for the most recent month are not available for a Member State, EU and EA aggregates are calculated using the latest data available for that Member State.

Geographical information

Euro area (EA20): Belgium, Germany, Estonia, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Croatia, Italy, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Austria, Portugal, Slovenia, Slovakia and Finland.

European Union (EU27): Belgium, Bulgaria, Czechia, Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Croatia, Italy, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Hungary, Malta, the Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Finland and Sweden.

For more information

  • Website section on employment and unemployment

  • Database section on unemployment, including non-seasonally adjusted and trend data

  • Statistics Explained articles on unemployment

  • Metadata on adjusted unemployment series

  • Euro indicators dashboard

  • Release calendar for Euro indicators

  • European Statistics Code of Practice

Get in touch

Media requests

Eurostat Media Support

Phone: (+352) 4301 33 408

E-mail: eurostat-mediasupport@ec.europa.eu

Further information on data

Nevena CHOLAKOVA

Phone: (+352) 4301 35 304

Marina PEREZ JULIAN

Phone: (+352) 430132 975

E-mail: estat-monthly-unemployment@ec.europa.eu

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' + '' + '' + '' + seriesName + '' + '' + '' + value + '' + '

'; } /** Close the tooltip content container */ tooltipContent += '

'; /** Return the formatted tooltip content */ return tooltipContent; }}/* * This content is licensed according to the W3C Software License at * https://www.w3.org/Consortium/Legal/2015/copyright-software-and-document * * File: sortable-table.js * * Desc: Adds sorting to a HTML data table that implements ARIA Authoring Practices */'use strict';class SortableTable { constructor(tableNode) { this.tableNode = tableNode; this.columnHeaders = tableNode.querySelectorAll('thead th.sortable'); this.sortColumns = []; for (var i = 0; i < this.columnHeaders.length; i++) { var ch = this.columnHeaders[i]; var buttonNode = ch.querySelector('button'); if (buttonNode) { this.sortColumns.push(i); // buttonNode.setAttribute('data-column-index', i); // buttonNode.addEventListener('click', this.handleClick.bind(this)); ch.setAttribute('data-column-index', i); ch.addEventListener('click', this.handleClick.bind(this)); } } this.optionCheckbox = document.querySelector( 'input[type="checkbox"][value="show-unsorted-icon"]' ); if (this.optionCheckbox) { this.optionCheckbox.addEventListener( 'change', this.handleOptionChange.bind(this) ); if (this.optionCheckbox.checked) { this.tableNode.classList.add('show-unsorted-icon'); } } } setColumnHeaderSort(columnIndex) { if (typeof columnIndex === 'string') { columnIndex = parseInt(columnIndex); } for (var i = 0; i < this.columnHeaders.length; i++) { var ch = this.columnHeaders[i]; var buttonNode = ch.querySelector('button'); if (i === columnIndex) { var value = ch.getAttribute('aria-sort'); if (value === 'ascending') { ch.setAttribute('aria-sort', 'descending'); this.sortColumn( columnIndex, 'descending', ch.classList.contains('num')); } else if (value === 'descending') { ch.removeAttribute('aria-sort'); this.sortColumn( columnIndex, 'initial', true ); } else { ch.setAttribute('aria-sort', 'ascending'); this.sortColumn( columnIndex, 'ascending', ch.classList.contains('num') ); } } else { if (ch.hasAttribute('aria-sort') && buttonNode) { ch.removeAttribute('aria-sort'); } } } } sortColumn(columnIndex, sortValue, isNumber) { function compareValues(a, b) { if (a.value === b.value) return 0; if (sortValue === 'descending') { return isNumber ? b.value - a.value : (a.value > b.value ? -1 : 1); } else { return isNumber ? a.value - b.value : (a.value < b.value ? -1 : 1); } } if (typeof isNumber !== 'boolean') { isNumber = false; } var tbodyNode = this.tableNode.querySelector('tbody'); var rowNodes = []; var dataCells = []; var rowNode = tbodyNode.firstElementChild; var index = 0; while (rowNode) { rowNodes.push(rowNode); var rowCells = rowNode.querySelectorAll('th, td'); var dataCell = rowCells[columnIndex]; var data = {}; data.index = index; if (sortValue !== 'initial') { data.value = dataCell.textContent.toLowerCase().trim(); } else { data.value = rowNode.getAttribute('initial-position').toLowerCase().trim(); } if (isNumber) { data.value = parseFloat(data.value); } dataCells.push(data); rowNode = rowNode.nextElementSibling; index += 1; } dataCells.sort(compareValues); // remove rows while (tbodyNode.firstChild) { tbodyNode.removeChild(tbodyNode.lastChild); } // add sorted rows for (var i = 0; i < dataCells.length; i += 1) { let pos = [dataCells[i].index]; if (sortValue === "initial") { rowNodes[pos].classList.remove("sorted"); } else { rowNodes[pos].classList.add("sorted"); } tbodyNode.appendChild(rowNodes[pos]); } } /* EVENT HANDLERS */ handleClick(event) { var tgt = event.currentTarget; this.setColumnHeaderSort(tgt.getAttribute('data-column-index')); } handleOptionChange(event) { var tgt = event.currentTarget; if (tgt.checked) { this.tableNode.classList.add('show-unsorted-icon'); } else { this.tableNode.classList.remove('show-unsorted-icon'); } }}$(document).ready(function() { load(); });;}());

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