May 05, 2022

In March 2022, the euro area seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate was 6.8%, down from 6.9% in February 2022 and from 8.2% in March 2021. The EU unemployment rate was 6.2% in March 2022, down from 6.3% in February 2022 and from 7.5% in March 2021. Eurostat estimates that 13.374 million men and women in the EU, of whom 11.274 million in the euro area, were unemployed in March 2022. Compared with February 2022, the number of persons unemployed decreased by 85 000 in the EU and by 76 000 in the euro area. Compared with March 2021, unemployment decreased by 2.359 million in the EU and by 1.931 million in the euro area.

Youth unemployment

In March 2022, 2.579 million young persons (under 25) were unemployed in the EU, of whom 2.098 million were in the euro area. In March 2022, the youth unemployment rate was 13.9% in both the EU and in the euro area, down from 14.0% in both areas in the previous month. Compared with March 2021, youth unemployment decreased by 623 000 in the EU and by 507 000 in the euro area.

Unemployment by sex

In March 2022, the unemployment rate for women was 6.6% in the EU, stable compared with February 2022. The unemployment rate for men was 5.9% in March 2022, down from 6.0% in February 2022. In the euro area, the unemployment rate for women decreased from 7.3% in February 2022 to 7.2% in March 2022, while the unemployment rate for men remained stable at 6.5% in March 2022.

Additional labour market indicators

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. The COVID-19 crisis and the measures applied to combat it have triggered a sharp increase in the number of claims for unemployment benefits across the EU. At the same time, a significant part of those who had registered in unemployment agencies might be no longer actively looking for a job or no longer available for work. This may still lead to discrepancies in the number of registered unemployed and those measured as unemployed according to the ILO definition. To capture in full the unprecedented labour market situation triggered by the COVID-19 outbreak, 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 2021.

Geographical information: The euro area (EA19) includes Belgium, Germany, Estonia, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Italy, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Austria, Portugal, Slovenia, Slovakia and Finland.

The European Union (EU27) includes Belgium, Bulgaria, Czechia, Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Croatia, Italy, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Hungary, Malta, the Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Finland and Sweden.

Source: Eurostat

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