Unemployment trends in the European Union Member States, February 2026

Released: 8 April 2026

In February 2026 (based on seasonally adjusted data) , the unemployment rate in the European Union was 5.9%, unchanged from the previous month and 0.1 percentage points lower than in February 2025. Unemployment was lowest in Bulgaria, Czechia and Poland (all 3.2%), while it was highest in Finland (10.4%) and Spain (9.8%).

In February 2026, the unemployment rate¹ in Hungary stood at 4.6%, which was 0.1 percentage points higher than a month earlier and 0.3 percentage points higher than a year before. Within the EU, the Hungarian unemployment rate – together with that of Ireland – was the tenth lowest. Among the V4 countries, unemployment was higher than in Hungary in Slovakia (5.6%), and lower in Poland and Czechia (both 3.2%).

The number of unemployed people in Hungary – based on seasonally adjusted data – was 223 thousand in February 2026. In the period December 2025 to February 2026, the average duration of job search decreased from 12.6 months to 11.9 months compared with a year earlier, while the share of the long term unemployed (at least one year) fell from 37% to 35%.

According to the administrative data of the National Employment Service, by the end of February 2026 the number of registered jobseekers increased by 0.8% compared with the previous month, and decreased by 2.7% to 226 thousand compared with a year earlier.

The March 2026 forecast of the National Bank of Hungary puts the unemployment rate at 4.6% in 2026 and 4.3% in 2027. According to OECD calculations, a slow decline can be expected, with the rate projected at 4.2% for 2026 as a whole and 4.0% for 2027. Trading Economics forecasts² that the domestic unemployment rate will fall to 4.0% by the third quarter of 2026, while the IMF projects a rate of 4.2% for 2026 and 4.0% for 2027.