In May 2025, the euro area seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 6.3%, up from 6.2% in April 2025 and down from 6.4% in May 2024. The EU unemployment rate was 5.9% in May 2025, stable compared with April 2025 and down from 6.0% in May 2024. These figures are published by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.

Eurostat estimates that 13.052 million persons in the EU, of whom 10.830 million in the euro area, were unemployed in May 2025.

  • Compared with April 2025, unemployment increased by 48 thousand in the EU and by 54 thousand in the euro area.

  • Compared with May 2024, unemployment decreased by 23 thousand in the EU and by 168 thousand in the euro area.

Youth unemployment

In May 2025, 2.864 million young persons (under 25) were unemployed in the EU, of whom 2.281 million were in the euro area. In May 2025, the youth unemployment rate was 14.8% in the EU, up from 14.7% in April 2025, and 14.4% in the euro area, up from 14.3% in the previous month.

  • Compared with April 2025, youth unemployment increased by 9 thousand in the EU and by 13 thousand in the euro area.

  • Compared with May 2024, youth unemployment increased by 3 thousand in the EU and decreased by 36 thousand in the euro area.

Unemployment by sex

In May 2025, the unemployment rate for women was 6.1% in the EU and the unemployment rate for men was 5.7%, both stable compared to April 2025. In the euro area, the unemployment rate for women was 6.5%, stable compared to the previous month, and the unemployment rate for men was 6.1%, up from 6.0% in April 2025.

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 first quarter of 2025.

Source: Eurostat
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