Euro area unemployment at 6.4% (2024)

Euro indicators 1 March 2024 Next release: 3 April 2024

January 2024

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EU stable at 6.0%

Overview

In January 2024, the euro area seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate was 6.4%, down from 6.5% in December 2023 and from 6.6% in January 2023. The EU unemployment rate was 6.0% in January 2024, stable compared with December 2023 and down from 6.1% in January 2023. These figures are published by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.

Eurostat estimates that 13.144 million persons in the EU, of whom 11.009 million in the euro area, were unemployed in January 2024.

  • Compared with December 2023, unemployment decreased by 7 thousand in the EU and by 34 thousand in the euro area.

  • Compared with January 2023, unemployment decreased by 10 thousand in the EU and by 232 thousand in the euro area.

Euro area unemployment at 6.4% (1)

Youth unemployment

In January 2024, 2.898 million young persons (under 25) were unemployed in the EU, of whom 2.315 million were in the euro area. In January 2024, the youth unemployment rate was 14.9% in the EU and 14.5% in the euro area, both stable compared to the previous month.

  • Compared with December 2023, youth unemployment decreased by 4thousand both in the EU and in the euro area.

  • Compared with January 2023, youth unemployment increased by 168thousand in the EU and by 66 thousand in the
    euro area.

Euro area unemployment at 6.4% (2)

Unemployment by sex

In January 2024, the unemployment rate for women was 6.3% and the unemployment rate for men was 5.7% in the EU, both stable compared with the previous month. In the euro area, the unemployment rate for women was 6.8% and the unemployment rate for men was 6.1%, both stable compared with December 2023.

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 third quarter of 2023.

LFS data for the fourth quarter of 2023 will be released on 15 March 2024.

Tables

Seasonally adjusted unemployment, totals

Rates (%)

Number of persons (in thousands)

2023

2024

2023

2024

Jan

Oct

Nov

Dec

Jan

Jan

Oct

Nov

Dec

Jan

Euro area

6.6

6.5

6.5

6.5

6.4

11 241

11 155

11 097

11 043

11 009

EU

6.1

6.1

6.0

6.0

6.0

13 154

13 254

13 168

13 151

13 144

Belgium

5.7

5.5

5.5

5.6

5.5

302

295

295

298

297

Bulgaria

4.0

4.4

4.4

4.3

4.4

124

135

133

132

133

Czechia

2.5

2.9

2.5

2.8

3.0

129

149

129

144

155

Denmark

4.1

5.3

4.9

5.0

5.3

130

168

158

160

171

Germany

3.0

3.1

3.1

3.1

3.1

1 311

1 361

1 367

1 370

1 370

Estonia

5.2

6.2

6.3

6.9

7.0

38

46

47

52

53

Ireland

4.2

4.5

4.5

4.5

4.5

115

127

126

128

128

Greece

11.3

10.6

10.8

10.4

10.4

529

498

500

493

495

Spain

13.0

11.9

11.8

11.7

11.6

3 070

2 859

2 836

2 818

2 796

France

7.1

7.5

7.5

7.6

7.5

2 170

2 312

2 330

2 341

2 330

Croatia

6.5

6.3

6.2

6.1

6.0

111

107

105

104

103

Italy

7.9

7.6

7.5

7.2

7.2

2 000

1 951

1 910

1 842

1 838

Cyprus

6.5

6.0

6.0

6.3

6.7

32

29

30

31

33

Latvia

6.2

6.8

6.9

7.0

6.9

59

64

65

66

65

Lithuania

6.7

7.3

7.2

7.0

7.7

103

114

113

109

118

Luxembourg

4.9

5.5

5.6

5.5

5.6

16

19

19

19

19

Hungary

3.8

4.1

4.2

4.2

4.3

186

205

207

209

214

Malta

3.0

2.5

2.4

2.4

2.6

9

8

8

8

8

Netherlands

3.6

3.6

3.5

3.6

3.6

360

361

357

361

368

Austria

5.2

5.1

4.9

5.4

5.0

245

244

233

254

236

Poland

2.7

3.0

3.0

3.0

2.9

478

537

543

537

522

Portugal

7.0

6.6

6.6

6.5

6.5

369

352

348

346

347

Romania

5.6

5.6

5.5

5.6

5.7

453

454

449

459

472

Slovenia

3.5

3.6

3.5

3.4

3.3

36

37

36

35

34

Slovakia

6.1

5.7

5.6

5.6

5.5

168

158

156

155

154

Finland

6.9

7.4

7.5

7.5

7.6

196

210

212

214

215

Sweden

7.3

7.9

8.0

8.1

8.1

415

455

459

462

464

Iceland

3.2

3.1

2.8

3.8

:

7

7

6

8

:

Norway

3.4

3.7

3.8

3.8

3.9

102

111

113

115

117

Switzerland

4.2

4.1

4.1

4.1

:

208

210

209

208

:

United States

3.4

3.8

3.7

3.7

3.7

5 823

6 446

6 289

6 339

6 202

: Data not available

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

Euro area unemployment at 6.4% (3)

Seasonally adjusted youth (under 25s) unemployment

Rates (%)

Number of persons (in thousands)

2023

2024

2023

2024

Jan

Oct

Nov

Dec

Jan

Jan

Oct

Nov

Dec

Jan

Euro area

14.2

15.0

14.6

14.5

14.5

2 249

2 392

2 315

2 319

2 315

EU

14.1

15.0

14.7

14.9

14.9

2 730

2 911

2 839

2 902

2 898

Belgium

15.1

17.2

17.2

17.2

:

64

73

73

73

:

Bulgaria

9.1

13.8

13.8

14.4

15.8

13

16

16

17

19

Czechia

6.8

7.1

6.2

8.4

8.1

18

21

17

23

24

Denmark

10.5

13.8

11.9

12.4

11.3

48

64

59

60

53

Germany

5.8

5.7

5.7

5.7

5.7

270

256

256

256

256

Estonia

16.2

19.4

20.2

18.4

18.1

9

11

11

10

10

Ireland

10.0

11.2

10.9

11.5

12.1

35

41

41

43

46

Greece

26.8

27.8

30.9

25.8

22.9

71

78

75

71

56

Spain

29.8

28.7

28.9

28.8

28.6

486

499

500

500

502

France

16.9

17.7

17.4

17.3

17.3

558

598

590

588

589

Croatia

18.8

18.5

18.5

18.5

:

23

22

22

22

:

Italy

22.6

24.4

22.1

21.6

21.8

345

378

331

338

334

Cyprus

15.6

18.4

18.4

18.4

:

6

7

7

7

:

Latvia

14.8

14.2

14.7

14.5

13.8

10

9

10

9

9

Lithuania

12.7

15.7

16.3

16.2

16.6

12

16

16

16

17

Luxembourg

17.5

19.8

20.4

19.8

20.0

4

5

5

5

5

Hungary

11.1

13.5

13.8

14.0

14.3

34

42

43

44

45

Malta

10.3

7.0

7.3

7.0

7.8

3

2

2

2

2

Netherlands

7.8

8.4

8.2

8.1

8.2

140

151

148

148

149

Austria

9.4

11.4

9.3

11.2

10.4

51

60

48

61

53

Poland

10.7

11.9

12.3

12.3

12.2

121

138

144

147

146

Portugal

20.8

21.2

23.0

22.8

23.3

78

82

89

88

91

Romania

22.0

22.1

22.1

22.1

:

105

106

106

106

:

Slovenia

7.0

10.6

10.6

10.6

:

5

8

8

8

:

Slovakia

19.1

20.2

19.8

19.3

19.0

27

28

28

27

26

Finland

15.5

16.9

16.9

17.0

17.0

51

55

55

55

55

Sweden

21.5

22.6

22.9

23.1

23.3

146

153

155

157

158

Iceland

9.1

11.4

5.9

9.8

:

3

3

2

3

:

Norway

12.2

11.5

11.4

11.3

12.5

51

49

50

46

54

Switzerland

8.3

8.2

8.3

8.1

:

49

48

49

49

:

: 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 6.4% (4)

Seasonally adjusted unemployment rates (%), by gender

Males

Females

2023

2024

2023

2024

Jan

Oct

Nov

Dec

Jan

Jan

Oct

Nov

Dec

Jan

Euro area

6.3

6.2

6.2

6.1

6.1

7.1

6.9

6.8

6.8

6.8

EU

5.7

5.8

5.8

5.7

5.7

6.4

6.4

6.3

6.3

6.3

Belgium

6.1

5.7

5.6

5.6

5.6

5.1

5.3

5.4

5.5

5.4

Bulgaria

4.1

4.5

4.4

4.4

4.5

3.8

4.3

4.3

4.3

4.3

Czechia

2.0

2.3

2.1

2.4

2.5

3.0

3.6

3.0

3.2

3.6

Denmark

4.1

4.9

4.2

4.4

5.0

4.2

5.7

5.8

5.7

5.6

Germany

3.1

3.3

3.3

3.3

3.2

2.8

2.8

2.9

2.9

2.9

Estonia

5.3

5.9

5.9

6.6

6.8

5.1

6.4

6.7

7.3

7.3

Ireland

4.3

4.5

4.3

4.3

4.6

4.1

4.6

4.7

4.8

4.4

Greece

8.6

8.5

8.7

8.2

8.0

14.8

13.0

13.4

13.1

13.2

Spain

11.4

10.4

10.3

10.2

10.1

14.8

13.5

13.4

13.3

13.2

France

7.4

7.6

7.7

7.7

7.6

6.8

7.4

7.4

7.4

7.5

Croatia

5.7

5.7

5.6

5.5

5.4

7.3

6.9

6.9

6.8

6.8

Italy

6.8

6.7

6.7

6.5

6.5

9.3

8.8

8.5

8.2

8.2

Cyprus

5.6

6.1

6.3

6.5

7.0

7.4

5.8

5.8

6.1

6.4

Latvia

7.4

7.7

7.8

7.9

7.9

5.0

5.9

6.1

6.1

5.9

Lithuania

7.0

8.1

7.9

7.5

8.7

6.4

6.5

6.5

6.4

6.7

Luxembourg

4.8

5.4

5.5

5.4

5.6

5.0

5.7

5.8

5.7

5.7

Hungary

3.8

4.2

4.2

4.2

4.4

3.8

4.1

4.2

4.3

4.3

Malta

3.3

2.4

2.3

2.3

2.5

2.5

2.6

2.7

2.7

2.8

Netherlands

3.2

3.5

3.5

3.5

3.5

3.9

3.6

3.6

3.6

3.8

Austria

5.2

5.6

5.4

5.5

5.4

5.2

4.6

4.4

5.2

4.5

Poland

2.8

2.9

2.9

2.8

2.8

2.6

3.2

3.2

3.2

3.0

Portugal

6.5

6.2

6.3

6.3

6.1

7.5

7.1

6.8

6.8

6.9

Romania

5.9

5.9

5.8

6.3

6.3

5.3

5.1

5.1

4.7

5.0

Slovenia

3.4

3.5

3.4

3.2

3.1

3.8

3.8

3.7

3.5

3.4

Slovakia

6.0

5.6

5.5

5.4

5.4

6.1

5.8

5.7

5.7

5.7

Finland

7.4

8.2

8.3

8.4

8.4

6.4

6.6

6.7

6.7

6.7

Sweden

7.2

7.7

7.8

7.9

7.9

7.5

8.2

8.3

8.3

8.3

Iceland

3.4

3.5

2.9

3.2

:

2.9

2.7

2.7

4.5

:

Norway

3.5

3.9

4.0

3.7

4.7

3.5

3.5

3.5

3.3

4.1

Switzerland

4.0

4.0

4.0

3.9

:

4.4

4.3

4.3

4.3

:

: Data not available

Source dataset: une_rt_m

Euro area unemployment at 6.4% (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 1 February 2024, the December 2023 unemployment rate for the EU has been revised from 5.9% to 6.0% and the unemployment rate for the euro area has been revised from 6.4% to 6.5%. Among EU Member States, the rate has been revised by more than 0.1 percentage points (pp) downwards for Slovenia (by 0.8 pp), Ireland (by 0.4 pp), Croatia (by 0.3 pp) as well as for Austria and Slovakia (by 0.2 pp each). The rate has been revised by more than 0.1 percentage points (pp) upwards for Greece (by 1.2 pp), Lithuania (by 0.7 pp), Estonia (by 0.6 pp), Latvia (by 0.4 pp), France and Poland (by 0.3 pp each) as well as for Cyprus and Romania (by 0.2 pp each).

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.

Denmark: change of estimation method for December 2023 unemployment levels only, using register data as auxiliary information.

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

  • Eurostat website section on employment and unemployment

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

  • Eurostat Statistics Explained articles on unemployment

  • Eurostat metadata on adjusted unemployment series

  • Eurostat Euro indicators dashboard

  • Eurostat €-indicators release calendar

  • 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

Thibaut HENRION

Phone: (+352) 4301 31 686

Nevena CHOLAKOVA

Phone: (+352) 4301 35 304

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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