Data sources
These estimates are based on the globally used International Labour Organisation (ILO) standard definition of unemployment, which counts as unemployed people without a job who have been actively seeking work in the last four weeks and are available to start work within the next two weeks.
To capture in full the labour market situation, the data on unemployment have been complemented by additional indicators, e.g. underemployed part-time workers, persons seeking work but not immediately available and persons available to work but not seeking, released together with LFS data for the fourth quarter of 2023. LFS data for the first quarter of 2024 will be released on 14 June 2024.
An unemployed person is defined by Eurostat, according to the guidelines of the International Labour Organization, as someone aged 15 to 74 without work during the reference week who is available to start work within the next two weeks and who has actively sought employment at some time during the last four weeks. The unemployment rate is the number of people unemployed as a percentage of the labour force.
In addition to the unemployment measures covered here, Eurostat also publishes statistics for persons who fulfil only partially the definition of unemployment. These persons are not included in the official ILO unemployment concept and have a varying degree of attachment to the labour market. The indicators on Labour market slack - employment supply and demand mismatch supplement the unemployment rate to provide a more complete picture of the labour market.
The quarterly LFS results are always used as a benchmark to ensure international comparability. As for most Member States the results from the LFS for a full quarter are available 75 days after the end of the reference period, the most recent figures are usually provisional. For many countries monthly unemployment data are calculated by Eurostat, while several countries actually supply those figures directly from the LFS.
The following LFS data are used in the calculations of the monthly unemployment rates published in this article:
- For Czechia, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Austria, Finland and Sweden as well as Norway: monthly LFS data up to and including March 2024.
- For Estonia and Portugal: monthly data (3 month moving average) up to and including February, March and April 2024.
- For Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Ireland, France, Croatia, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia: quarterly data up and including Q4 2023.
- For Spain: quarterly data up and including Q1 2024.
Monthly unemployment and employment series are calculated first at the level of four categories for each Member State (males and females 15-24 years, males and females 25-74 years). These series are then seasonally adjusted and all the national and European aggregates are calculated. Monthly unemployment figures are published by Eurostat as rates (as a percentage of the labour force) or levels (in thousands), by gender and for two age groups (persons aged 15-24, and those aged 25-74). The figures are available as unadjusted, seasonally adjusted and trend series. There are monthly estimates for all EU Member States. Data for the EU aggregate start in 2000 and for the euro area in April 1998; the starting point for individual Member States varies.
Member States may publish other rates such as register-based unemployment rates, or rates based on the national LFS or corresponding surveys. These rates may vary from those published by Eurostat due to a different definition or methodological choices.
The figures on registered unemployment of refugees from Ukraine are purely register-based unemployment data. Countries' definitions may differ.
Countries providing data on unemployed refugees from Ukraine registered in public employment services per month in the last 12 reference months:
March 2023: AT, BE, BG, CY, DE, DK, EE, EL, ES, FI, FR, HR, HU, IE, LV, LT, LU, PL, PT, RO, SE, SI, SK, CH
April 2023: AT, BE, BG, CY, DE, DK, EE, EL, ES, FI, FR, HR, HU, IE, LV, LT, LU, PL, PT, RO, SE, SI, SK, CH
May 2023: AT, BE, BG, CY, DE, DK, EE, EL, ES, FI, FR, HR, HU, IE, LV, LT, LU, PL, PT, RO, SE, SI, SK, CH
June 2023: AT, BE, BG, CY, DE, DK, EE, EL, ES, FI, FR, HR, HU, IE, LV, LT, LU, PL, PT, RO, SE, SI, SK, CH
July 2023: AT, BE, BG, CY, DE, DK, EE, EL, ES, FI, FR, HR, HU, IE, LV, LT, LU, PL, PT, RO, SE, SI, SK, CH
August 2023: AT, BE, BG, CY, DE, DK, EE, EL, ES, FI, FR, HR, HU, IE, LT, LU, LV, PL, PT, RO, SE, SI, SK, CH
September 2023: AT, BE, BG, CY, DE, DK, EE, EL, ES, FI, FR, HR, HU, IE, LT, LU, LV, PL, PT, RO, SI, SK, CH
October 2023: AT, BE, BG, CY, DE, DK, EE, EL, ES, FI, FR, HR, HU, IE, LT, LU, LV, PL, PT, RO, SI, SK, CH
November 2023: AT, BE, BG, CY, DE, DK, EE, EL, ES, FI, FR, HR, HU, IE, LT, LU, LV, PL, PT, RO, SE, SI, SK, CH
December 2023: AT, BE, BG, CY, DE, DK, EE, EL, ES, FI, FR, HR, HU, IE, LT, LU, LV, PL, PT, RO, SE, SI, SK, CH
January 2024: BE, BG, CY DE, DK, EE, EL, ES, FI, FR, HR, HU, IE, LT, LU, LV, PL, PT, RO, SE, SI, SK, CH
February 2024: BE, BG, CY, DE, DK, EL, ES, FI, FR, HR, HU, IE, LT, LU, LV, PL, PT, RO, SE, SI, SK, CH
March 2024: BE, BG, CY, DE, DK, EL, ES, FI, FR, HR, HU, IE, LT, LU, LV, PL, PT, RO, SI, SK, CH
