2026-01-11 13:00
publication
2026-01-11 13:00
The unemployment rate in the European Union remained stable at 6% at the end of 2025. Unemployment in Poland in November last year was 3.2 percent and was one of the lowest in the EU. Still, 577,000. Poles are unemployed – according to published Eurostat research.
At the end of November 2025, 13 million 225 thousand people were unemployed across the EU. inhabitants of the Community, of which 10.9 million come from euro area countries. Overall, the unemployment rate in the Eurozone countries, to which Bulgaria joined in January as the 21st country, was 6.3%, which is slightly higher than in the entire EU.
In Poland, the unemployment rate was 3.2%. and was one of the lowest in the entire EU. This means that at the end of last year, almost 600,000 people were unemployed. Poles of working age. The most, over 10 percent. There were unemployed people in Spain and Finland, the least 3.1 percent. in Malta. Poland with a result of 3.2 percent. it was placed just behind Malta and in the same position as the Czech Republic.
Unemployment among young people under 25 years of age remains consistently high and amounted to 15.1%. throughout the EU and 14.6 percent in the euro zone itself. This means that 2.9 million young Europeans were unemployed, including 2.3 million in countries using the common European currency. In Poland, the unemployment rate in this group was 12.7 percent, which means that 146,000 young Poles were unemployed. Spaniards, Swedes and Finns struggled with the highest level of unemployment, where on average every fourth youth was unemployed. The lowest youth unemployment was recorded in the Netherlands and Germany, where it amounted to just over 9%. However, not all countries submitted their statistics, including: Cyprus, Croatia and Romania.
Differences between the employment levels of men and women still persist. Across the EU, 6.2% of people were unemployed. women and 5.8 percent men; in the euro zone 6.5 percent women and 6.1 percent men. Here, Poland's results were also among the lowest in the EU and amounted to 3.6%. for women and 2.9 percent for men; Only the Czech Republic fared better among men, and among women, Malta, Germany, the Czech Republic and Bulgaria fared better. Across the EU, at the end of 2025, the most unemployed among EU men were Swedes, Finns and Spaniards, and among Spanish and Greek women.
Eurostat measures the harmonized unemployment rate as the percentage of people aged 15-74 who are unemployed, able to take up employment in the next two weeks, and who have been actively looking for a job in the last weeks, for all economically active people in a given country.
The Central Statistical Office reported in December last year that the unemployment rate in November 2025 was 5.6%. According to the Central Statistical Office, the number of unemployed people registered in labor offices amounted to 873.6 thousand in November.
From Brussels Jowita Kiwnik Pargana (PAP)
jowi/ ap/ ktl/
