Unemployment hit a record low in the European Union last year

The unemployment rate in the European Union fell to 5.9% in 2024, the lowest level since data collection began in 2009, Eurostat has said.

This is a 0.2 percentage point drop compared to 2023, the data showed.

Among the youngest age cohort (15-24 years old), the unemployment rate stood at 14.9% in 2024, a 0.4-percentage-point increase on the previous year, while among those aged 25 to 54, the unemployment rate was 5.4%, (down 0.1 percentage points). Among those aged 55 to 74, the rate was 4.1%, a decline of 0.2 percentage points.

Long-term unemployment

Long-term unemployment, in other words, the percentage of people that are unemployed for a year or more, stood at 1.9%, which was also a record low.

Greece boasted the highest long-term unemployment rate in the EU in 2024, of 5.4%, followed by Spain (3.8%) and Slovakia (3.5%), while the Netherlands (0.5%), Malta (0.7%), and Czechia, Denmark and Poland (all at 0.8%) had the lowest rates, according to the Eurostat data.

The findings are based on data from the European Union Labour Force Survey and reflect both short- and long-term trends across member states. Read more here.

Long-term Unemployment Rate by EU Member State (2024)