Employment in the European Union reached its highest level since records began in 2005, according to the OECD’s latest data, with the final quarter of 2024 marking a significant milestone for the region’s labour market.
Eight EU countries — along with Turkey — registered their highest employment rates on record during this period. Simultaneously, the unemployment rate across the EU dipped to its lowest point in over two decades, hitting 5.7% in February 2025, the lowest since January 2000.
In the fourth quarter of 2024, the EU’s overall employment rate stood at 70.9%. Among the 24 EU member states included in the dataset, the Netherlands led with an employment rate of 82.3%, while Italy recorded the lowest at 62.2%.
Expanding the scope to include EU candidate countries, EFTA members, and the UK, Iceland posted the highest employment rate at 85.6%, while Turkey sat at the bottom with 55.2%.
Among the EU’s largest economies, Germany stood out with a 77.6% employment rate — the highest of the group — followed by the UK at 75%. France, at 68.9%, fell below both EU and OECD averages, while Spain (66.3%) and Italy (62.2%) were among the lowest performers, along with Greece and Turkey.
Despite their lower rankings, Spain, Greece, and Turkey were among the countries reaching record employment levels in late 2024, alongside Germany, Czechia, Portugal, Slovakia, and Belgium. In several of these cases, the increases were slight but still historic.
Only the Netherlands has consistently surpassed the 80% mark since 2005 among the 24 EU member states analyzed. Iceland and Switzerland also exceeded that threshold during this period. If measured by the Eurostat-preferred 20–64 age range instead of the OECD’s 15–64 range, more nations might have crossed the 80% line.
In terms of momentum, Iceland and Greece recorded the biggest annual jumps in employment — 1.6 and 1.5 percentage points respectively — largely driven by higher labour force participation.
On the unemployment front, Poland reported the lowest rate at just 2.6%, while Spain was the only country with a rate over 10%, at 10.4%. Finland (9.2%) and Sweden (8.9%) followed.
Germany had the fourth-lowest unemployment rate at 3.5%, leading among Europe’s five biggest economies. The UK followed with 4.4% (based on January 2025 data), while France (7.4%) and Italy (5.9%) remained above the EU average.
