EU employment rate up, labour market slack down in Q1 2026

BRUSSELS, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News / WAM - 13th Jun, 2026) In the first quarter of 2026, the employment rate of people aged 20-64 in the EU stood at 76.3%, up from 76.2% in the fourth quarter of 2025, according to figures published by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.

Labour market slack – all persons who have an unmet need for employment, including unemployed people – stood at 10.9% of the extended labour force aged 20-64 in the first quarter of 2026, down from 11.0% in the fourth quarter of 2025.

Between the fourth quarter of 2025 and the first quarter of 2026, Italy (+0.5 percentage points (pp)), as well as Belgium, Cyprus, Lithuania, Slovakia and Sweden (+0.4 pp each), registered the highest increases in the employment rate among the 11 EU countries where employment rose. The employment rate remained stable in 6 EU countries and decreased in another 10 EU countries, with the biggest decreases recorded in Latvia (-0.

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8 pp), Ireland (-0.7 pp), as well as in Slovenia and Finland (-0.3 pp each).

Between the fourth quarter of 2025 and the first quarter of 2026, 3 million unemployed people aged 15-74 in the EU found a job (22.9% of all unemployed in the fourth quarter of 2025). During this period, 7.1 million (53.2%) remained unemployed and 3.2 million unemployed people (23.9%) transitioned out of the labour force.

Of all those in employment in the fourth quarter of 2025, 2.5 million (1.2%) became unemployed in the first quarter of 2026, and 4.4 million (2.1%) transitioned out of the labour force.

From those counted as out of the labour force in the fourth quarter of 2025, 4.2 million (3.7%) moved into employment in the first quarter of 2026 and 3.8 million (3.3%) transitioned into unemployment.