EU labour market - quarterly statistics

Data extracted in December 2025

Planned article update: 13 March 2026

Highlights

In Q3 2025, the employment rate of people aged 20 to 64 years was 76.2%, while labour market slack stood at 11.0%.

Source: Eurostat (lfsi_sla_q) and (lfsi_emp_q)

This article presents seasonally adjusted quarterly indicators on employment and labour market slack, which comprises all persons who have an unmet need for employment, including unemployed people. These indicators, taken together, are used to capture the most recent movements on the labour market in the EU countries.

Employment rate up and labour market slack stable in the EU

In Q3 2025, 198.0 million persons in the EU were employed. The EU seasonally adjusted employment rate for people aged 20-64 years stood at 76.2%, stable compared with Q2 2025 as shown in Figure 1.

For the same period, the seasonally adjusted total labour market slack in the EU, which is the unmet need for work, amounted to 23.9 million persons, which represented 11.0% of the extended labour force in Q3 2025, also stable compared with Q2 2025. Regarding its main component, unemployment, 12.2 million persons were unemployed in Q3 2025. The EU seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 5.8%, stable compared with Q2 2025. Underemployed part-time workers accounted for 2.3% of the extended labour force, those actively seeking work but not available to take up work accounted for 0.8% (both stable compared with Q2 2025) and those available for work but not seeking work accounted for 2.3% (+0.1 percentage points (pp)).

Figure 1: Labour Market slack and employment rate in the EU
Source: Eurostat (lfsi_sla_q) and (lfsi_emp_q)

Slovenia, Bulgaria and Finland see greatest increase in labour market slack

Compared with Q2 2025, labour market slack increased in 13 countries in the EU in Q3 2025. The largest increases were reported in Slovenia (+1.3 pp), as well as in Bulgaria and Finland (both +0.6 pp). It remained stable in Poland, and decreased in another 13 countries. The largest decreases were reported in Lithuania (-1.4 pp), Denmark and Estonia (both -0.7 pp) as well as in Greece and Malta (both -0.6 pp). Employment increased in 15 EU countries, with the highest increases registered in Malta (+1.2 pp), Estonia (+0.8 pp) as well as in Croatia, Portugal and Romania (+0.6 pp). The largest decreases were recorded in Belgium (-0.7 pp) as well as in Ireland and Luxembourg (both -0.5 pp) as shown in Figure 2. Between Q2 2025 and Q3 2025 the employment rate changed in 25 EU countries and remained stable in Denmark and the Netherlands.

Figure 2: Change in the employment rate and labour market slack in the EU Member States
Source: Eurostat (lfsi_emp_q) and (lfsi_sla_q)

Focus on employment development by sex

When looking at the development of the employment rate for women and men, the employment rate for women increased by +0.2 pp between Q2 2025 and Q3 2025, while for men it decreased by -0.1 pp for the same period. The largest increases in the employment rate for women among EU countries were found in Estonia (+1.8 pp), Malta (+1.6 pp) and Lithuania (+1.2 pp). The largest increases in the employment rate for men among EU countries were registered in Malta (+0.9 pp), Slovenia (+0.8 pp) and Croatia (+0.7 pp), as shown in Figure 3. By contrast, the largest decreases in the employment rate for women among EU countries were found in Belgium (by -1.3 pp) and Luxembourg (by -1.2 pp). The largest decreases in the employment rate for men among EU countries were registered in Ireland (by -0.9 pp) and Czechia (by -0.8 pp) as shown in Figure 3.

Figure 3: Change in the employment rate by sex in the EU Member States
Source: Eurostat (lfsi_emp_q)

Unemployment in EU countries

When comparing Q2 2025 with Q3 2025, the unemployment rate at EU level remained stable at 5.8% of the labour force. The largest increases were observed in Ireland (from 4.1% to 4.6%) and Finland (from 8.6% to 9.1%). The unemployment rate remained unchanged in Belgium, Spain, Cyprus and Hungary, while it decreased in 10 other countries. The largest decreases were registered in Croatia (from 4.7% to 4.1%), Italy (from 6.6% to 6.2%) and Lithuania (from 7.1% to 6.7%) as shown in Figure 4.

Figure 4: Change in unemployment in the EU Member States
Source: Eurostat (une_rt_q)

Main indicators

Table 1: Employment, unemployment and labour market slack
Source: Eurostat (une_rt_q), (lfsi_sla_q) and (lfsi_emp_q)

Source data for tables and graphs

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Data sources

All figures in this article are based on seasonally adjusted quarterly results from the European Union Labour Force Survey (EU-LFS). The European Union labour force survey (EU-LFS) is the largest European household sample survey providing quarterly and annual results on labour participation of people aged 15 years and over as well as on persons outside the labour force. It covers residents in private households. Conscripts in military or community service are not included in the results. The EU-LFS is based on the same target populations and uses the same definitions in all countries, which means that the results are comparable between countries.

The labour market indicators published from the Q2 2021 are based on the EU Labour Force Survey (EU-LFS) collected under Regulation (EU) No 1700/2019 on European statistics relating to persons and households, based on data at individual level collected from samples. Quarterly series for main indicators before 2021 are back-calculated in line with the new methodology up to the first quarter of 2009, see background article EU labour force survey - correction for breaks in time series.

Main methodological information

Country notes:

Iceland: EU-LFS data for Q3 2025 not available.
the Netherlands collects quarterly LFS data using a rolling reference week instead of a fixed reference week, i.e. interviewed persons are asked about the situation of the week before the interview rather than a pre-selected week.

Methods and definitions

Eurostat produces harmonised labour market data for individual EU countries, the euro area and the EU. The concepts and definitions used in the Labour Force Survey follow the guidelines of the International Labour Organisation.

Employed persons are all persons who worked at least 1 hour for pay or profit during the reference week or unpaid for a business owned by a member of the family, or were temporarily absent from such work. The employment rate is the percentage of employed persons in relation to the total population.

The Gender Employment Gap is the difference between the employment rates of men and women aged 20-64 years.

Unemployed persons are all persons who

are without work
are available to start work within 2 weeks
have actively sought employment at some time during the previous 4 weeks

The labour market slack is the sum of unemployed persons, underemployed part-time workers, persons seeking work but not immediately available and persons available to work but not seeking, expressed as a percentage of the extended labour force.

Underemployed part-time workers are persons working part-time who wish to work additional hours and are available to do so. Part-time work is recorded as self-reported by individuals.

Persons seeking work but not immediately available are the sum of persons neither employed nor unemployed who: (a) are actively seeking work during the last 4 weeks but not available for work in the next 2 weeks; or (b) found a job to start within a period of at most 3 months and are not available for work in the next 2 weeks; or (c) found a job to start in more than 3 months but are not available for work in the next 2 weeks.

Persons available to work but not seeking are the sum of persons neither employed nor unemployed who want to work and (a) are available for work in the next 2 weeks but are not seeking work, or (b) were passively seeking work during the last 4 weeks and are available for work in the next 2 weeks or (c) found a job to start in more than 3 months and are available to work in the next 2 weeks.

The extended labour force is the total number of people employed plus unemployed, plus those seeking work but not immediately available plus those available to work but not seeking. In this article, data cover persons aged 20 to 64 years.

Footnotes

Explore further

Database

Employment and unemployment (Labour Force Survey) (employ), see:

LFS main indicators (lfsi)
- Unemployment - LFS adjusted series (une)
  - Supplementary indicators to unemployment - annual data (lfsi_sup_a)
  - Supplementary indicators to unemployment - quarterly data (lfsi_sup_q)
LFS series - Detailed annual survey results (lfsa)
- Total unemployment - LFS series (lfsa_unemp)
  - Supplementary indicators to unemployment by sex and age (lfsa_sup_age)
  - Supplementary indicators to unemployment by sex and educational attainment level (lfsa_sup_edu)
  - Supplementary indicators to unemployment by sex and citizenship (lfsa_sup_nat)
LFS series - Detailed quarterly survey results (lfsq)
- Total unemployment - LFS series (lfsq_unemp)
  - Supplementary indicators to unemployment by sex and age (lfsq_sup_age)
  - Supplementary indicators to unemployment by sex and educational attainment level (lfsq_sup_edu)