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

Spain reported the highest seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate in the European Union in October 2024, with a rate of 11.2%, new data from Eurostat has found.

Spain’s unemployment rate has been the highest in Europe for some time now, however it has seen a marginal decline from the 11.9% rate recorded a year ago.

Other countries to report a notably high unemployment rate for the month included Greece (9.8%), Finland (8.8%), Sweden (8.4%), Estonia (8.1%) and France (7.6%).

At the other end of the scale, Czechia reported an unemployment rate of just 2.6% in the month, while Malta (3.0%), Poland (3.1%) and Germany (3.4%) also reported low rates.

Unemployment rate in EU

Across the European Union, the unemployment rate stood at 5.9%, which was stable month-on-month and down from 6.1% in October 2023. In the euro area specifically, the rate stood at 6.3%, unchanged month-on-month and down from 6.6% in October 2023.

According to Eurostat, 12.971 million people in the EU were unemployed as of October 2024, including 10.841 million in the euro area. Month-on-month, unemployment figures fell by 70,000 in the EU and by 3,000 in the euro area.

The youth unemployment rate stood at 15.2% in October 2024, a slight decline on the previous month, with some 2.995 million young people in the EU and 2.427 million in the euro area currently unemployed.

Analysing the data in terms of gender, meanwhile, shows that the unemployment rate for women remained steady at 6.1%, while for men, it decreased marginally from 5.8% in September 2024 to 5.7% in October 2024. Read more here.

Read more: Keep up to date with the latest unemployment data from across Europe here

Unemployment rate by EU member state, October 2024 (%)

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