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\n Published on
\n 04\/03\/2026 – 18:06 GMT+1\n <\/p>\n
Unemployment in the 21-member eurozone fell to 6.1% in January, Eurostat reported, down from 6.2% in December 2025 and 6.3% a year earlier. <\/p>\n
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Economists had expected the rate to remain unchanged at 6.2%.<\/p>\n
The figure translates to 10.77 million people without work across the bloc. <\/p>\n
Excluding Bulgaria, the newest member of the currency bloc, the eurozone\u2019s 20 original members also saw an improvement, even though the jobless rate came in at 6.2%, unchanged. <\/p>\n
But the overall number of unemployed is declining, signalling a healthier labour market.<\/p>\n
Across the wider European Union, unemployment dropped to 5.8%, down from 5.9% in December and 6% in January 2025. <\/p>\n
Month-on-month, the number of unemployed fell by 185,000 in the EU and 184,000 in the eurozone.<\/p>\n
Among the bloc\u2019s largest economies, Germany and the Netherlands recorded the lowest unemployment rates at 4% each. <\/p>\n
Spain (9.8%), France (7.7%) and Italy (5.1%) remained at the higher end of the spectrum.<\/p>\n
Youth unemployment also eased slightly, with the EU rate falling to 15.1% from 15.2%, and the eurozone rate dipping to 14.8% from 15%.<\/p>\n
Recent economic indicators suggest the EU economy is more resilient than previously expected. <\/p>\n
Eurostat\u2019s preliminary estimates show GDP growth of 1.5% in the euro area and 1.6% across the EU in 2025, underpinned by robust performance in key sectors.<\/p>\n
UK unemployment hits post-pandemic peak<\/p>\n
By contrast, the UK saw unemployment rise to 5.2%, a five-year high, overtaking Italy\u2019s 5.1%. <\/p>\n
Danni Hewson, head of financial analysis at AJ Bell, called it an unexpected long-term planning result.<\/p>\n
\u201cBusinesses have been crystal clear that government policies increasing labour costs led them to pause hiring plans and may have accelerated changes with long-term impacts on job creation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Analysts also highlight the potential impact of artificial intelligence on youth employment. <\/p>\n
Hewson added that \u201cintegrating AI into businesses to boost productivity is a positive step, but for young people already struggling to get their first taste of work, AI could reduce entry-level opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n
AI not yet replacing jobs in Europe, says ECB<\/p>\n
Artificial intelligence has not caused widespread job losses in Europe, the European Central Bank said on Wednesday in a blog post. <\/p>\n
According to the ECB, firms using AI heavily were 4% more likely to hire staff than those that do not, with many adding workers to implement AI tools and expand production. <\/p>\n
While the long-term effects are uncertain, the ECB said AI\u2019s impact on jobs so far is either neutral or slightly positive.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Published on 04\/03\/2026 – 18:06 GMT+1 Unemployment in the 21-member eurozone fell to 6.1% in January, Eurostat reported,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":515208,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[45,49,48,46,6816,50131,124,125],"class_list":["post-515207","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-business","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-economy","tag-european-union","tag-eurozone","tag-jobs","tag-unemployment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/515207","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=515207"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/515207\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/515208"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=515207"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=515207"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=515207"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}