Between the fourth quarter of 2023 and the first quarter of 2024, 3.4 million unemployed people aged 15-74 in the EU (25.5% of all unemployed in the fourth quarter of 2023) found a job. During this period, 6.8 million (51.3%) remained unemployed and 3.1 million unemployed people (23.3%) transitioned out of the labour force.

The information comes from recently published data on labour market flows in the first quarter of 2024. This article presents a handful of findings from the more detailed Statistics Explained article.

Transitions in labour market status in the EU, Q4 2023 - Q1 2024, population aged 15-74, in million. Chart. See link to full dataset below.

Source dataset: lfsi_long_q 

The visual and table give an overview of all possible transitions and show the changes in labour market status. In the visual, the figures for employment, unemployment and out of the labour force refer to the number of people remaining in each status between the two quarters. The grey arrows indicate the direction of net flows. 

Transitions in labour market status in the EU, Q4 2023 - Q1 2024, population aged 17-74, as % of initial status. Infographic. See link to full dataset below.

Source dataset: lfsi_long_q 

Of all those in employment in the fourth quarter of 2023, 2.5 million (1.2%) became unemployed in the first quarter of 2024, and 4.5 million (2.2%) transitioned out of the labour force.

From those counted as out of the labour force in the fourth quarter of 2023, 4.8 million (4.1%) moved into employment in the first quarter of 2024 and 4.1 million (3.5%) transitioned into unemployment.

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Methodological notes

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