What EU country had the highest unemployment rate in August 2024?

Spain continues to have the highest unemployment rate in the European Union, reporting a 11.3% rate in August 2024, according to Eurostat data.

Other countries to report a high seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate for August include Greece (9.5%), Sweden (8.2%), Finland (8.2%), Estonia (7.9%) and Lithuania (7.9%).

At the other end of the spectrum, meanwhile, Czechia reported the lowest unemployment rate in the European Union in August 2024, of 2.6%, followed by Poland (2.9%), Malta (3.0%), Slovenia (3.3%) and Germany 3.5%).

European Union unemployment

According to Eurostat, the unemployment rate in the European Union stood at 5.9% in August 2024, down from 6.0% in July 2024, and from 6.0% in August 2023.

In the euro area specifically, the rate was 6.4% in August, stable compared to the previous month and down from 6.6% in August 2023.

Some 13,027 million people in the European Union were unemployed as of August 2024, a decrease of 108,000 on the previous month, and 142,000 on the same month the previous year.

The youth unemployment rate stood at 14.3% in the EU, down slightly from 14.5% in July 2024. In terms of unemployment by gender, the rate for women in the EU remained stable, month on month, at 6.1%, while for men, it decreased to 5.7% from 5.8% in July 2024.

Unemployment rate by EU country, August 2024 (%)