FX.co ★ Euro Area Jobless Rate Ties Record Low at 6.2%

The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in the Euro Area stood at 6.2% in May 2026, matching the record lows seen in late 2024 and unchanged from April. This came in slightly better than market expectations of 6.3%. The number of unemployed declined by 55,000 from the previous month, reaching a roughly one-and-a-half-year low of 10.986 million.

Youth unemployment remained at 14.7% in May, the same as in April, with 2.313 million people under the age of 25 out of work. Among the bloc’s largest economies, Germany (3.8%) and the Netherlands (3.9%) posted the lowest unemployment rates, while Spain (10.3%), France (8.2%), and Italy (5.0%) recorded the highest. A year earlier, the Euro Area unemployment rate was 6.3%.

Across the broader European Union, the unemployment rate was unchanged in May at 5.9%.