Some 3.1 million unemployed people aged 15 to 74 in the EU moved into work between the third and fourth quarters of 2025.
That represented 22.9% of all unemployed people in the third quarter, while 6.9 million people — 51.9% — remained unemployed over the period, Eurostat announced on Friday.
A further 3.4 million unemployed people, or 25.2%, moved out of the labour force, meaning they were neither working nor actively looking for work.
Among people who were employed in the third quarter of 2025, 2.5 million — 1.2% — became unemployed in the fourth quarter.
Another 4.8 million workers, or 2.3%, moved out of the labour force over the same period.
Moves from inactivity into work and unemployment
Of those who were out of the labour force in the third quarter, 4.2 million people — 3.7% — moved into employment in the fourth quarter of 2025, according to Eurostat.
Another 3.8 million people, or 3.3%, transitioned into unemployment over the same period.
The figures are taken from Eurostat’s quarterly labour market flows dataset for the fourth quarter of 2025.
