Unemployment in Euro Area
The Euro area's unemployment rate from 2013 to 2022 showed a gradual improvement overall, despite some fluctuations. The early part of the decade saw high rates due to the Eurozone crisis, but a steady recovery followed. The COVID-19 pandemic caused a temporary increase in unemployment, but by 2022, the rate had decreased to record lows.
The unemployment rate in the Euro Area averaged 9.2% in the decade to 2022, above the 6.3% average for major economies. The unemployment rate in 2022 was 6.7%. For more unemployment information, visit our dedicated page.
Euro Area Unemployment Chart
Euro Area Unemployment Data
2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Unemployment (% of active population, aop) | 8.2 | 7.6 | 8.0 | 7.7 | 6.7 |
Unemployment (% of active population, eop) | 7.9 | 7.5 | 8.2 | 7.0 | 6.7 |
Unemployment rate stable in December
The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate came in at 6.4% in December, unchanged from November. 10 economies saw their unemployment rates remain stable in December, including France and Germany. Meanwhile, five economies saw their unemployment rates decrease, including Italy and Spain, while five economies saw their unemployment rates increase, including the Netherlands. Significant disparities in labor market conditions between core and periphery countries persist. Spain is the economy with the highest unemployment rate of 11.7%, followed at some distance by Greece (9.2%). At the other end of the spectrum, Malta (24%) and Germany (3.1%) have the lowest unemployment rates.
How should you choose a forecaster if some are too optimistic while others are too pessimistic? FocusEconomics collects European unemployment projections for the next ten years from a panel of 43 analysts at the leading national, regional and global forecast institutions. These projections are then validated by our in-house team of economists and data analysts and averaged to provide one Consensus Forecast you can rely on for each indicator. By averaging all forecasts, upside and downside forecasting errors tend to cancel each other out, leading to the most reliable unemployment forecast available for European unemployment.
Download one of our sample reports to visualize what a Consensus Forecast is and see our European unemployment projections.
Want to get access to the full dataset of European unemployment forecasts? Send an email to info@focus-economics.com.
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