The unemployment rate in the eurozone remained unchanged in September at 6.5%, a level at which it has stood since July 2026, while in the European Union as a whole it again stood for the fourth consecutive month at 6.2%, according to data released this Friday by Eurostat.
According to the estimates of the community statistical office, in the ninth month of 2026 there were 13.77 million people out of work in the EU, of whom 11.55 million resided in the countries of the single currency.
These figures imply a monthly increase of 105,000 unemployed people in the Union as a whole and of 122,000 in the euro area. Compared with September of the previous year, the number of unemployed rose by 471,000 people in the Twenty-seven and by 420,000 within the eurozone.
Among the member states, the highest unemployment rates were recorded in Finland, at 10.5%; in Spain, at 10.3%; followed by Sweden, at 8.7%; and France, which reached 8.5%, its worst figure since September 2020. At the opposite end, the lowest rates were observed in Czechia, at 2.8%; while Poland, Bulgaria and Malta each posted 3.4%.
Regarding unemployment among those under 25, the EU youth unemployment rate rose in September to 15.5% from the previous 15.4%, while in the euro area it advanced three tenths, to 15.4%.
In absolute terms, the number of young people without employment in the EU stood at 3.02 million people, of whom 2.46 million lived in the eurozone.
In Spain, in September 2026, 2.6 million unemployed people were recorded, of whom 449,000 were under 25. In this way, the youth unemployment rate in the country was 22.8%, the fourth highest in the community bloc, surpassed only by Estonia (23.9%), Finland (23.7%) and Sweden (23.2%).