88/2023 – 1 August 2023

In June 2023, the euro area seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate was 6.4%, stable compared with May 2023 and down from 6.7% in June 2022. The EU unemployment rate was 5.9% in June 2023, also stable compared with May 2023 and down from 6.1% in June 2022. These figures are published by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.

Eurostat estimates that 12.802 million persons in the EU, of whom 10.814 million in the euro area, were unemployed in June 2023. Compared with May 2023, unemployment decreased by 2 thousand in the EU and by 62 thousand in the euro area. Compared with June 2022, unemployment decreased by 387 thousand in the EU and by 441 thousand in the euro area.

 

 

Youth unemployment

In June 2023, 2.739 million young persons (under 25) were unemployed in the EU, of whom 2.204 million were in the euro area. In June 2023, the youth unemployment rate was 14.1% in the EU and 13.8% in the euro area, respectively up and down from 14.0% recorded in both regions in the previous month. Compared with May 2023, youth unemployment increased by 28 thousand in the EU and decreased by 31 thousand in the euro area. Compared with June 2022, youth unemployment decreased by 16 thousand in the EU and by 81 thousand in the euro area.

 

Unemployment by sex

In June 2023, the unemployment rate for women was 6.1% in the EU, stable compared with May 2023. The unemployment rate for men was 5.7% in June 2023, also stable compared with the previous month. In the euro area, the unemployment rate for women was 6.7% and the unemployment rate for men was 6.1%, both stable compared with May 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 first quarter of 2023. LFS data for the second quarter of 2023 will be released on 15 September 2023. 

 

 

  

 

 

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.

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.

Country notes 

Czechia: Break in series, concerning the youth unemployment data for June 2023, due to methodological changes.

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. 

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 73/2023 of 30 June 2023, the May 2023 unemployment rate for the EU remained unchanged, while the unemployment rate for the euro area was revised from 6.5% to 6.4%. Among EU Member States, the rate has been revised by more than 0.1 percentage points (pp) downwards for Spain (by 0.8 pp). The rate has been revised by more than 0.1 percentage points (pp) upwards for Estonia and Greece (by 0.5 pp each) as well as for Sweden (by 0.3 pp).

 

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 and on youth unemployment 

Eurostat metadata on adjusted unemployment series 

Eurostat Euro indicators dashboard 

Eurostat €-indicators release calendar European Statistics Code of Practice 

                                                  For further information on data

 

                                                   Nevena CHOLAKOVA

                                                  Tel: +352-4301-35 304

                                                  Boyan GENEV

                                                   Tel: +352-4301-36409

 estat-monthly-unemployment@ec.europa.eu

 Media requests: eurostat-mediasupport@ec.europa.eu / Tel: +352-4301-33 408

@EU_Eurostat   @ EurostatStatistics   @EU_Eurostat   @Eurostat  ec.europa.eu/eurostat