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Notes for users
Revisions and timetable
The data in this News Release can be subject to revisions, caused by updates to the seasonally adjusted series whenever new monthly data are added; the inclusion of the most recent EU-LFS data in the calculation process; update of seasonal adjustment models with complete annual data.
Compared with the rates published in the News Release of 8 January 2026, the November 2025 unemployment rate for the EU has been revised from 6.0% to 5.9%, while the unemployment rate for the euro area remained unchanged. Among EU Member States, the rate has been revised by more than 0.1 percentage points (pp) downwards for Estonia (by 0.5 pp) and Spain (by 0.3 pp). The rate has not been revised by more than 0.1 percentage points (pp) upwards for any country.
Country notes
Germany, the Netherlands, Finland, Sweden as well as Iceland and Norway: the trend component is used instead of the more volatile seasonally adjusted data.
Estonia and Portugal: 3-month moving averages of EU-LFS data are used instead of pure monthly indicators.
Methods and definitions
Eurostat publishes harmonised unemployment rates for individual EU Member States, the euro area and the EU. These unemployment rates are based on the definition recommended by the International Labour Organisation (ILO). The measurement is based on a harmonised data source, the European Union Labour Force Survey (EU-LFS).
Based on the ILO definition, Eurostat defines unemployed persons as persons aged 15 to 74 who:
are without work;
are available to start work within the next two weeks;
and have actively sought employment at some time during the previous four weeks.
The unemployment rate is the number of people unemployed as a percentage of the labour force.
The labour force is the total number of people employed plus unemployed. In this news release unemployment rates are based on employment and unemployment data covering persons aged 15 to 74.
The youth unemployment rate is the number of people aged 15 to 24 unemployed as a percentage of the labour force of the same age. Therefore, the youth unemployment rate should not be interpreted as the share of jobless people in the overall youth population.
When data for the most recent month are not available for a Member State, EU and EA aggregates are calculated using the latest data available for that Member State.
Geographical information
Up to 31 December 2025, the euro area included Belgium, Germany, Estonia, Ireland, Greece, Spain,
France, Croatia, Italy, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Austria,
Portugal, Slovenia, Slovakia and Finland (EA20). From 1 January 2026, the euro area also includes
Bulgaria (EA21).
The aggregate data series commented on in this Euro indicator release refer to the official composition
of the euro area in the most recent month for which data are available. Thus, Euro indicator releases
with data for months up to December 2025 comment on EA20 series, while releases with data for
January 2026 onwards will comment on EA21 series.
The European Union includes Belgium, Bulgaria, Czechia, Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Croatia, Italy, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Hungary, Malta, the Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Finland and Sweden (EU27).
For more information
Website section on employment and unemployment
Database section on unemployment, including non-seasonally adjusted and trend data
Statistics Explained articles on unemployment
Metadata on adjusted unemployment series
Euro indicators dashboard
Release calendar for Euro indicators
European Statistics Code of Practice
Get in touch
Media requests
Eurostat Media Support
E-mail: eurostat-mediasupport@ec.europa.eu
Further information on data
Thibaut HENRION
Phone: (+352) 4301 31 686
Nevena CHOLAKOVA
Phone: (+352) 4301 35 304
E-mail: estat-monthly-unemployment@ec.europa.eu
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