Eurozone unemployment down to 6.1% in January, below estimates

ISTANBUL

The euro area’s unemployment rate was down to 6.1% in January, from 6.2% in December 2025, Eurostat said on Wednesday.

The markets had expected the rate to stay unchanged at 6.2%.

Across the wider EU, the jobless rate reached 5.8% in January, down from 5.9% in December.

Eurostat estimated that 12.93 million people in the EU were unemployed in January, including 10.77 million in the eurozone.

Compared to December, the number of jobless decreased by 185,000 in the EU and by 184,000 in the euro area.

Meanwhile, about 2.92 million people age 25 and under were out of work across the EU, including 2.35 million in the eurozone. The youth jobless rate reached 15.1% in the EU, down from 15.2% a month earlier, while it fell to 14.8% in the euro area.

Finland had the highest overall unemployment rate at 10.2% in January, while Bulgaria and Poland saw the lowest rate at 3.1% for both.

The euro area, also referred to as EA21, is made up of EU members that use the bloc’s single currency, the euro.