EU Employment Rate Rises to 76.4% in Q2 as Labour Slack Holds at 11.0%
Updated
Updated · European Commission · Sep 11
EU Employment Rate Rises to 76.4% in Q2 as Labour Slack Holds at 11.0%
3 articles · Updated · European Commission · Sep 11
Summary
76.4% of EU residents aged 20-64 were employed in the second quarter of 2026, up 0.1 percentage point from 76.3% in the first quarter, Eurostat said.
11.0% labour market slack — covering unemployed people and others with unmet need for work — was unchanged from the prior quarter, suggesting the jobs gain did not tighten spare capacity further.
Portugal and Malta posted the biggest employment-rate increases at 0.6 percentage point each, followed by Greece at 0.5 point and Latvia and Slovenia at 0.4 point.
Austria recorded the steepest decline at 0.4 percentage point, while Lithuania and Sweden each fell 0.3 point; employment rose in 14 EU countries, was flat in 4 and fell in 9.