Euro Area Unemployment Rate Holds at 6.5% in September: Jobless Total Rises by 122,000 to 11.555 Million as Youth Rate Climbs to 15.4%
Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, reported on October 30 that the euro area's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 6.5% in September 2026, stable compared with August 2026 and up from 6.3% in September 2025. The EU unemployment rate was 6.2% in September 2026, also stable compared with August and up from 6.0% a year earlier.
Eurostat estimates that 13.773 million persons in the EU, of whom 11.555 million were in the euro area, were unemployed in September 2026. Compared with August 2026, unemployment increased by 105,000 in the EU and by 122,000 in the euro area; compared with September 2025, it increased by 471,000 in the EU and by 420,000 in the euro area.
Youth joblessness edged up. In September, 3.022 million young persons under 25 were unemployed in the EU, of whom 2.469 million were in the euro area. The youth unemployment rate was 15.5% in the EU, up from 15.4% in August, and 15.4% in the euro area, up from 15.1%.
By sex, the unemployment rate for women in the euro area was 6.7%, stable compared with August, while the rate for men rose to 6.4% from 6.3%. In the EU, the rates were 6.4% for women and 6.0% for men, both stable.
Rates varied widely among member states in September, from 10.5% in Finland, 10.3% in Spain, 8.7% in Sweden and 8.5% in France, down to 2.8% in Czechia, 3.4% in Malta and Poland, and 4.0% in the Netherlands. Germany, the euro area's largest economy, recorded 4.1%.
Eurostat also revised the August figures published on October 1: the euro area rate was raised from 6.4% to 6.5% and the EU rate from 6.1% to 6.2%. The rates follow the International Labour Organization (ILO) definition and are based on the EU Labour Force Survey (EU-LFS).
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：位于 Brussels 的欧盟委员会总部 Berlaymont 大楼前的欧盟旗帜（资料图）。almathias 摄，CC0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / EU flags in front of the Berlaymont building, headquarters of the European Commission in Brussels (file photo). Photo by almathias, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.
