Euro area unemployment at 6.4% (2024)

Euro indicators 2 July 2024 Next release: 1 August 2024

May 2024

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EU at 6.0%

Overview

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

Eurostat estimates that 13.200 million persons in the EU, of whom 11.078 million in the euro area, were unemployed in May 2024.

  • Compared with April 2024, unemployment increased by 13 thousand in the EU and by 38 thousand in the euro area.

  • Compared with May 2023, unemployment increased by 163 thousand in the EU and by 3 thousand in the euro area.

Euro area unemployment at 6.4% (1)

Youth unemployment

In May 2024, 2.828 million young persons (under 25) were unemployed in the EU, of whom 2.287 million were in the euro area. In May 2024, the youth unemployment rate was 14.4% in the EU, down from 14.5% in April 2024, and 14.2% in the euro area, stable compared with the previous month.

  • Compared with April 2024, youth unemployment decreased by 13thousand in the EU and increased by 3 thousand in the euro area.

  • Compared with May 2023, youth unemployment increased by 80 thousand in the EU and by 32 thousand in the euro area.

Euro area unemployment at 6.4% (2)

Unemployment by sex

In May 2024, the unemployment rate for women was 6.3% in the EU, stable compared with April 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 6.7%, stable compared with the previous month, and the unemployment rate for men was 6.2%, up from 6.1% in April 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

May

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

May

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Euro area

6.5

6.5

6.5

6.4

6.4

11 075

11 218

11 125

11 040

11 078

EU

6.0

6.1

6.0

6.0

6.0

13 037

13 330

13 271

13 187

13 200

Belgium

5.7

5.7

5.7

5.8

5.9

299

304

306

311

316

Bulgaria

4.4

4.6

4.6

4.5

4.4

133

144

143

141

138

Czechia

2.5

2.7

2.9

2.8

2.7

134

138

152

144

138

Denmark

4.8

5.9

5.5

5.7

5.8

151

195

180

184

188

Germany

2.9

3.2

3.3

3.3

3.3

1 300

1 435

1 450

1 461

1 467

Estonia

6.6

7.5

7.6

7.5

7.4

49

57

57

57

56

Ireland

4.2

4.1

4.0

4.0

4.0

115

114

113

112

112

Greece

11.2

11.5

10.7

10.7

10.6

527

551

510

516

505

Spain

12.0

11.8

11.7

11.7

11.7

2 888

2 870

2 858

2 855

2 861

France

7.4

7.4

7.4

7.3

7.4

2 281

2 319

2 314

2 281

2 304

Croatia

6.1

5.5

5.5

5.4

5.3

104

95

94

92

91

Italy

7.8

7.3

7.1

6.8

6.8

1 977

1 872

1 808

1 753

1 753

Cyprus

6.3

5.4

4.9

4.4

4.1

31

27

24

21

20

Latvia

6.4

6.9

6.9

6.8

6.7

61

66

65

65

64

Lithuania

6.4

7.5

7.5

7.5

7.7

98

118

119

119

122

Luxembourg

5.0

5.6

5.6

5.6

5.7

17

19

19

19

19

Hungary

3.9

4.4

4.3

4.4

4.3

192

217

215

217

215

Malta

3.1

3.0

3.1

3.1

3.2

10

10

10

10

10

Netherlands

3.5

3.7

3.6

3.7

3.6

353

379

371

375

367

Austria

4.8

4.7

4.9

4.8

5.0

226

221

232

226

237

Poland

2.8

2.9

2.9

3.0

3.0

491

517

523

528

529

Portugal

6.4

6.6

6.5

6.4

6.5

338

353

346

343

351

Romania

5.5

5.2

5.2

5.3

5.4

443

441

440

444

452

Slovenia

3.7

3.3

3.3

3.3

3.2

39

34

34

34

33

Slovakia

5.8

5.6

5.6

5.6

5.5

162

155

155

154

154

Finland

7.1

7.9

8.0

8.1

8.2

201

224

228

231

232

Sweden

7.5

8.3

8.3

8.4

8.4

428

473

476

478

480

Iceland

5.2

3.6

:

:

:

12

8

:

:

:

Norway

3.5

4.0

4.0

4.1

4.1

106

119

121

123

124

Switzerland

4.0

4.1

4.1

:

:

201

207

210

:

:

United States

3.7

3.9

3.8

3.9

4.0

6 087

6 556

6 432

6 436

6 614

: 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

May

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

May

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Euro area

14.2

14.6

14.4

14.2

14.2

2 255

2 337

2 308

2 284

2 287

EU

14.2

14.8

14.7

14.5

14.4

2 748

2 885

2 887

2 841

2 828

Belgium

14.7

16.7

16.7

:

:

63

71

71

:

:

Bulgaria

11.9

15.1

14.9

14.5

14.0

14

20

20

19

18

Czechia

9.9

8.0

7.5

7.9

8.7

28

23

21

22

24

Denmark

9.1

14.5

14.1

11.8

13.2

40

72

72

56

64

Germany

5.6

6.1

6.1

6.1

6.0

258

281

283

283

282

Estonia

16.4

16.6

16.9

20.7

20.1

10

9

10

13

12

Ireland

10.2

9.7

8.9

8.1

7.7

36

35

32

29

27

Greece

25.2

28.0

22.9

22.8

23.8

65

76

58

61

61

Spain

28.0

27.7

27.2

26.6

26.6

474

482

479

473

478

France

16.9

18.1

18.1

17.9

17.9

566

611

616

607

611

Croatia

18.5

17.9

17.9

:

:

22

21

21

:

:

Italy

23.7

22.4

20.3

20.4

20.5

365

338

305

308

307

Cyprus

17.6

15.0

15.0

:

:

7

6

6

:

:

Latvia

9.4

10.9

10.2

10.1

9.9

6

7

7

7

7

Lithuania

11.7

11.4

10.6

14.3

15.2

11

11

10

14

15

Luxembourg

17.0

19.8

19.2

19.4

19.6

4

5

5

5

5

Hungary

12.2

15.0

15.3

14.2

13.2

37

47

48

45

42

Malta

9.2

8.9

8.3

7.6

8.1

2

3

2

2

2

Netherlands

8.2

8.7

8.7

8.7

8.4

150

158

158

159

154

Austria

10.4

9.0

9.9

9.0

9.8

57

46

52

46

50

Poland

11.6

11.7

11.8

12.0

11.8

131

131

132

133

132

Portugal

18.6

22.3

22.7

21.7

23.0

72

85

86

81

84

Romania

21.8

20.5

20.5

:

:

102

104

104

:

:

Slovenia

10.5

9.3

9.3

:

:

8

8

8

:

:

Slovakia

20.0

20.7

20.8

20.6

20.6

29

30

30

30

29

Finland

16.2

18.2

18.4

18.5

18.4

53

59

60

60

61

Sweden

21.3

23.8

24.0

24.1

24.1

146

162

164

165

166

Iceland

15.5

7.7

:

:

:

5

2

:

:

:

Norway

8.1

10.6

11.8

13.8

12.9

34

45

51

60

57

Switzerland

8.1

8.5

8.7

:

:

48

50

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 6.4% (4)

Seasonally adjusted unemployment rates (%), by gender

Males

Females

2023

2024

2023

2024

May

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

May

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Euro area

6.2

6.2

6.2

6.1

6.2

6.9

6.9

6.9

6.7

6.7

EU

5.7

5.8

5.7

5.8

5.8

6.3

6.3

6.4

6.3

6.3

Belgium

6.2

6.3

6.4

6.6

6.6

5.0

5.0

4.9

5.0

5.1

Bulgaria

4.3

4.7

4.6

4.5

4.4

4.4

4.6

4.6

4.5

4.5

Czechia

2.1

2.3

2.3

2.3

2.4

3.0

3.1

3.7

3.3

3.0

Denmark

5.0

5.9

5.4

5.7

5.3

4.6

6.0

5.6

5.6

6.3

Germany

3.2

3.5

3.5

3.5

3.5

2.7

3.0

3.0

3.0

3.0

Estonia

6.1

7.4

7.0

7.0

6.7

7.2

7.6

8.2

8.1

8.1

Ireland

4.3

3.9

3.8

3.8

3.8

4.0

4.3

4.2

4.1

4.1

Greece

8.4

9.3

8.0

8.5

8.1

14.6

14.3

14.0

13.4

13.8

Spain

10.4

10.6

10.5

10.5

10.5

13.7

13.2

13.1

13.0

13.0

France

7.5

7.6

7.6

7.4

7.5

7.3

7.3

7.3

7.2

7.3

Croatia

5.6

4.9

4.9

4.9

4.9

6.6

6.2

6.1

5.9

5.7

Italy

6.9

6.4

6.1

6.0

6.1

9.0

8.5

8.3

7.9

7.8

Cyprus

6.4

5.2

4.6

4.0

3.7

6.2

5.6

5.2

4.8

4.6

Latvia

7.8

7.6

7.4

7.0

6.8

5.0

6.2

6.4

6.6

6.7

Lithuania

6.7

7.7

7.7

7.8

7.8

6.1

7.3

7.3

7.1

7.6

Luxembourg

4.7

5.5

5.5

5.6

5.7

5.2

5.8

5.7

5.7

5.8

Hungary

3.9

4.4

4.4

4.5

4.4

3.9

4.4

4.2

4.2

4.2

Malta

3.2

3.3

3.4

3.6

3.6

3.0

2.6

2.6

2.5

2.6

Netherlands

3.2

3.6

3.5

3.6

3.5

3.8

3.9

3.8

3.8

3.7

Austria

4.9

5.0

5.0

5.0

5.5

4.6

4.3

4.9

4.6

4.5

Poland

2.7

2.7

2.7

2.8

2.8

2.8

3.2

3.2

3.2

3.2

Portugal

6.0

5.9

5.6

5.7

6.0

6.8

7.2

7.3

7.1

7.1

Romania

5.9

5.5

5.4

5.5

5.5

5.0

4.9

4.9

4.9

5.3

Slovenia

4.0

2.9

2.9

2.8

2.8

3.4

3.7

3.7

3.8

3.8

Slovakia

5.8

5.2

5.1

5.1

5.1

5.9

6.1

6.1

6.0

6.0

Finland

7.7

8.7

8.9

9.1

9.2

6.5

7.0

7.0

7.0

7.0

Sweden

7.3

8.3

8.3

8.4

8.5

7.7

8.3

8.3

8.3

8.3

Iceland

5.7

4.3

:

:

:

4.6

2.8

:

:

:

Norway

3.2

3.6

4.2

4.4

4.2

3.1

3.3

3.9

4.2

4.0

Switzerland

3.9

3.9

4.0

:

:

4.1

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 30 May 2024, the April 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 Ireland (by 0.4 pp) and Estonia (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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