Euro area unemployment at 6.2%

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 January 2025, the December 2024 unemployment rate for the euro area has been revised from 6.3% to 6.2% and the unemployment rate for the EU has been revised from 5.9% to 5.8%. Among EU Member States, the rate has been revised by more than 0.1 percentage points (pp) downwards for Slovenia (by 1.7 pp), France (by 0.5 pp), Poland (by 0.3 pp) and Slovakia (by 0.2 pp). The rate has been revised by more than 0.1 percentage points (pp) upwards for Estonia and Romania (by 0.5 pp each), Cyprus (by 0.4 pp), Ireland, Luxembourg and Sweden (by 0.3 pp each) as well as for Belgium, Bulgaria and Italy (by 0.2 pp each).

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.

France: Estimates are calculated using inputs from the French public employment service. An updated national methodology (in French) is in use since January 2025, affecting the time series consistency of the input data. To ensure the comparability of monthly unemployment figures published in this article, Eurostat compiled the evolution between December 2024 and January 2025 youth unemployment figures using statistical models.

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.