Euro area unemployment at 6.4% (1.10.2026)

EU at 6.1%

Overview

In August 2026, the euro area seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 6.4%, stable compared with July 2026 and up from 6.3% in August 2025. The EU unemployment rate was 6.1% in August 2026, also stable compared with July 2026 and up from 6.0% in August 2025. These figures are published by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.

Eurostat estimates that 13.600 million persons in the EU, of whom 11.357 million in the euro area, were unemployed in August 2026.

Compared with July 2026, unemployment increased by 12 thousand in the EU and by 26 thousand in the euro area.
Compared with August 2025, unemployment increased by 348 thousand in the EU and by 267 thousand in the euro area.

Unemployment rates

Youth unemployment

In August 2026, 2.973 million young persons (under 25) were unemployed in the EU, of whom 2.391 million were in the euro area. In August 2026, the youth unemployment rate was 15.4% in the EU, up from 15.3% in the previous month, and 15.0% in the euro area, down from 15.1% in July 2026.

Compared with July 2026, youth unemployment increased by 13 thousand in the EU and decreased by 9 thousand in the euro area.
Compared with August 2025, youth unemployment increased by 19 thousand in the EU and by 38 thousand in the euro area.

Youth unemployment rates

Unemployment by sex

In August 2026, the unemployment rate for women was 6.4% in the EU and the unemployment rate for men was 5.9%, both 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 6.2%, both also stable compared with July 2026.

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 EU Labour Force Survey (EU-LFS) data for the second quarter of 2026.

EU-LFS data for the third quarter of 2026 will be released on 11 December 2026.

Tables

Seasonally adjusted unemployment, totals
	Rates (%)					Number of persons (in thousands)
	Aug-25	May-26	Jun-26	Jul-26	Aug-26	Aug-25	May-26	Jun-26	Jul-26	Aug-26
Euro area	6.3	6.4	6.4	6.4	6.4	11 090	11 235	11 318	11 331	11 357
EU	6.0	6.1	6.1	6.1	6.1	13 252	13 502	13 613	13 588	13 600
Belgium	6.1	6.3	6.3	6.0	5.9	334	349	344	329	324
Bulgaria	3.7	3.4	3.5	3.5	3.5	113	102	106	107	106
Czechia	3.1	2.9	3.2	3.3	3.2	166	159	176	180	173
Denmark	6.5	6.9	6.6	6.7	5.9	215	230	221	223	197
Germany	3.8	3.9	4.0	4.0	4.0	1 667	1 723	1 738	1 751	1 760
Estonia	7.2	6.6	6.9	7.9	8.0	54	49	51	59	60
Ireland	4.9	4.9	4.9	5.0	5.0	145	145	145	148	147
Greece	8.8	7.8	8.1	7.9	7.4	418	370	384	376	351
Spain	10.5	10.2	10.1	10.0	10.0	2 611	2 571	2 550	2 546	2 552
France	7.8	8.4	8.3	8.3	8.2	2 476	2 683	2 660	2 653	2 637
Croatia	4.9	4.4	4.4	4.3	4.3	87	79	78	77	76
Italy	5.7	5.6	6.0	6.0	6.2	1 463	1 432	1 555	1 543	1 591
Cyprus	4.2	3.8	3.9	4.0	4.1	22	20	21	21	22
Latvia	7.2	6.9	7.1	7.3	7.3	68	66	68	70	70
Lithuania	6.9	6.4	6.2	6.2	6.1	108	100	97	97	96
Luxembourg	6.4	7.0	7.2	7.1	7.3	22	25	25	25	26
Hungary	4.3	4.4	4.5	4.5	4.7	211	212	217	221	231
Malta	2.5	3.5	3.5	3.4	3.4	8	12	12	12	12
Netherlands	3.9	3.9	3.8	4.0	4.0	401	399	393	404	408
Austria	6.0	6.0	5.8	6.2	6.7	284	285	278	295	319
Poland	3.2	3.4	3.4	3.4	3.4	571	605	611	603	597
Portugal	5.9	5.6	5.7	5.7	5.7	328	316	323	321	325
Romania	6.1	6.7	6.8	6.4	6.4	495	550	555	527	523
Slovenia	4.0	4.0	3.8	3.5	3.4	42	42	39	36	35
Slovakia	5.4	5.7	5.7	5.7	5.7	150	158	157	158	156
Finland	9.9	10.4	10.4	10.3	10.3	285	300	299	298	297
Sweden	8.8	8.7	8.7	8.7	8.7	507	506	507	508	509
Iceland	4.5	5.7	5.7	5.8	5.8	11	13	13	13	13
Norway	4.6	4.5	4.5	4.5	4.5	141	139	137	137	136
Switzerland	4.9	5.1	5.1	:	:	253	266	264	:	:
United States	4.3	4.3	4.2	4.1	4.1	7 409	7 300	7 088	6 904	7 057
: Data not available Source datasets: une_rt_m (rates) and une_rt_m (in 1 000 persons)

Seasonally adjusted youth (under 25s) unemployment
	Rates (%)					Number of persons (in thousands)
	Aug-25	May-26	Jun-26	Jul-26	Aug-26	Aug-25	May-26	Jun-26	Jul-26	Aug-26
Euro area	14.8	15.2	15.2	15.1	15.0	2 353	2 422	2 416	2 400	2 391
EU	15.3	15.6	15.7	15.3	15.4	2 954	3 023	3 049	2 960	2 973
Belgium	18.4	19.1	19.1	:	:	88	93	93	:	:
Bulgaria	14.5	12.8	13.4	13.9	13.5	17	16	17	17	17
Czechia	10.7	8.7	13.2	12.5	12.0	33	28	45	41	39
Denmark	15.6	14.7	15.8	10.7	15.0	79	78	81	57	77
Germany	7.0	7.5	7.5	7.4	7.4	315	331	330	329	328
Estonia	21.7	22.2	25.9	28.5	28.4	14	14	17	19	19
Ireland	12.6	11.5	11.6	12.4	12.3	46	42	42	45	44
Greece	21.8	17.1	20.9	16.5	15.6	58	43	57	45	43
Spain	25.0	24.0	23.3	22.8	22.7	461	466	454	449	452
France	19.4	21.6	21.2	20.8	20.6	661	741	724	707	699
Croatia	18.4	16.4	16.4	:	:	21	19	19	:	:
Italy	19.8	17.7	19.4	19.7	20.3	248	221	246	244	253
Cyprus	13.0	11.9	11.9	:	:	4	3	3	:	:
Latvia	11.9	13.6	14.1	15.4	16.0	8	10	10	11	12
Lithuania	13.1	12.4	11.5	12.1	12.5	14	12	11	11	11
Luxembourg	18.8	19.4	20.1	20.2	20.8	4	5	5	5	5
Hungary	15.0	12.8	13.5	15.2	15.4	45	36	40	45	44
Malta	7.5	8.8	9.3	9.7	9.7	2	3	3	3	3
Netherlands	8.6	8.7	8.5	8.6	8.8	156	157	152	154	157
Austria	12.3	8.6	10.7	12.3	13.1	62	45	55	65	67
Poland	12.4	11.9	11.6	11.4	11.3	142	135	131	127	126
Portugal	18.9	19.8	20.0	21.0	19.8	72	74	75	79	74
Romania	25.9	30.8	30.8	:	:	127	147	147	:	:
Slovenia	13.2	14.3	14.3	:	:	10	12	12	:	:
Slovakia	15.6	18.8	18.5	18.0	17.4	20	24	24	23	22
Finland	22.4	23.2	23.3	23.3	23.3	74	76	76	75	75
Sweden	24.1	24.1	24.0	23.9	23.8	168	173	174	174	174
Iceland	9.5	11.7	11.2	11.0	11.0	4	4	4	4	4
Norway	18.1	14.3	14.0	12.0	13.6	83	65	64	55	62
Switzerland	8.3	9.5	9.0	:	:	49	57	54	:	:
: 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)

Seasonally adjusted unemployment rates (%), by sex
	Males					Females
	Aug-25	May-26	Jun-26	Jul-26	Aug- 26	Aug-25	May-26	Jun-26	Jul-26	Aug-26
Euro area	6.1	6.2	6.2	6.2	6.2	6.5	6.6	6.6	6.7	6.7
EU	5.8	5.9	6.0	5.9	5.9	6.2	6.3	6.3	6.4	6.4
Belgium	6.6	6.9	6.9	6.6	6.4	5.6	5.7	5.6	5.4	5.4
Bulgaria	3.9	3.9	4.0	4.0	3.9	3.5	2.8	2.9	3.0	3.1
Czechia	2.6	2.5	2.9	2.7	2.7	3.6	3.5	3.7	4.1	3.7
Denmark	6.5	6.1	6.9	5.7	5.5	6.6	7.9	6.3	7.7	6.4
Germany	4.1	4.2	4.2	4.3	4.3	3.4	3.6	3.7	3.7	3.7
Estonia	8.3	6.6	6.6	8.0	8.2	6.2	6.6	7.2	7.8	7.9
Ireland	5.0	4.7	4.7	4.8	4.8	4.9	5.1	5.1	5.2	5.1
Greece	6.9	5.2	6.3	5.9	4.9	11.1	10.9	10.2	10.4	10.3
Spain	9.1	9.1	9.0	8.9	8.9	12.0	11.4	11.3	11.2	11.3
France	7.8	8.5	8.4	8.4	8.3	7.7	8.2	8.2	8.2	8.2
Croatia	5.5	4.8	4.9	4.8	4.8	4.2	3.9	3.8	3.7	3.7
Italy	5.3	5.2	5.6	5.4	5.7	6.4	6.0	6.6	6.7	6.8
Cyprus	4.0	3.6	3.6	3.7	3.7	4.5	3.9	4.1	4.3	4.5
Latvia	8.3	7.9	8.1	8.2	8.0	6.1	6.0	6.2	6.5	6.7
Lithuania	7.8	7.0	6.7	6.7	6.4	5.9	5.7	5.7	5.8	5.8
Luxembourg	6.3	6.8	6.9	6.9	7.0	6.6	7.2	7.4	7.4	7.6
Hungary	4.3	4.3	4.3	4.4	4.6	4.4	4.4	4.7	4.7	4.9
Malta	2.9	3.6	3.5	3.4	3.5	1.9	3.4	3.4	3.4	3.3
Netherlands	3.8	3.8	3.8	4.0	4.0	4.0	4.0	4.0	3.9	4.0
Austria	6.6	6.3	6.3	6.7	6.4	5.4	5.6	5.3	5.7	7.0
Poland	2.8	3.4	3.4	3.3	3.3	3.6	3.4	3.5	3.5	3.5
Portugal	5.4	5.0	5.0	4.9	5.2	6.3	6.1	6.4	6.4	6.3
Romania	6.3	6.6	6.6	6.2	6.3	5.7	7.0	7.1	6.7	6.5
Slovenia	3.7	3.7	3.4	3.2	3.1	4.4	4.4	4.2	3.9	3.8
Slovakia	5.2	5.5	5.5	5.5	5.5	5.8	6.1	6.0	6.0	5.9
Finland	10.6	10.9	10.8	10.7	10.7	9.2	9.9	9.9	9.9	9.9
Sweden	8.9	8.8	8.8	8.8	8.7	8.7	8.6	8.7	8.7	8.7
Iceland	4.6	5.6	5.6	5.7	5.8	4.2	5.9	5.9	5.9	5.8
Norway	5.2	4.7	4.8	4.3	4.6	4.5	4.2	4.4	4.0	4.3
Switzerland	5.0	5.2	5.2	:	:	4.8	5.1	5.0	:	:
: Data not available Source dataset: une_rt_m

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 EU-LFS data in the calculation process; update of seasonal adjustment models with complete annual data.

Compared with the rates published in the News Release of 1 September 2026, the July 2026 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 Finland (by 0.2 pp). The rate has been revised by more than 0.1 percentage points (pp) upwards for Estonia (by 1.0 pp) and Italy (by 0.2 pp).

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 EU-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 (EU-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 (EA21): Belgium, Bulgaria, Germany, Estonia, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Croatia, Italy, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Austria, Portugal, Slovenia, Slovakia and Finland.

European Union (EU 27): 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.