Eurostat estimates that 13.226 million persons in the EU<\/strong>, of whom 10.984 million in the euro area<\/strong>, were unemployed in March 2026.<\/p>\n Compared with February 2026, unemployment decreased by 25 thousand in the EU<\/strong> and by 63 thousand in the euro area<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Compared with March 2025, unemployment decreased by 24 thousand in the EU<\/strong> and by 170 thousand in the euro area<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n Youth unemployment<\/p>\n In March 2026, 2.978 million young persons (under 25) were unemployed in the EU<\/strong>, of whom 2.354 million were in the euro area<\/strong>. In March 2026, the youth unemployment rate was 15.4% in the EU<\/strong>, up from 15.3% in the previous month, <\/strong>and 14.9% in the euro area<\/strong>, stable compared with February 2026.<\/p>\n Compared with February 2026, youth unemployment increased by 19\u00a0thousand in the EU<\/strong> and decreased by 17 thousand in the euro area<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Compared with March 2025, youth unemployment increased by 44 thousand in the EU<\/strong> and decreased by 26 thousand in the euro area<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n Unemployment by sex<\/p>\n In March 2026, the unemployment rate for women was 6.2% in the EU<\/strong>, stable compared with February 2026, <\/strong>and the unemployment rate for men was 5.7%, down from 5.8% in the previous month. In the euro area<\/strong>, the unemployment rate for women was 6.5% and the unemployment rate for men was 6.0% in March 2026, both stable compared with February 2026.<\/p>\n Additional labour market indicators<\/p>\n The estimates in this News Release 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.<\/p>\n\n
![\"Unemployment](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/3-30042026-cp-en-image-0001.png\" "\\"Unemployment")
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![\"Youth](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/3-30042026-cp-en-image-0002.png\" "\\"Youth")
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