Unemployment trends in the European Union Member States, January 2026

Released: 11 March 2026

In January 2026 (based on seasonally adjusted data) , the unemployment rate in the European Union was 5.8%, which was 0.1 percentage points lower than a month earlier and 0.2 percentage points lower than in January 2025. Unemployment was lowest in Bulgaria and Poland (both 3.1%), while it was highest in Finland (10.2%) and Spain (9.8%).

In January 2026, the unemployment rate¹ in Hungary was 4.5%, the same as a month earlier and 0.2 percentage points higher than a year before. The Hungarian unemployment rate was the ninth lowest in the EU, together with Croatia. Among the V4 countries, the unemployment rate was higher than in Hungary in Slovakia (5.6%), and lower in Poland and Czechia (3.1% and 3.2% respectively).

The number of unemployed people in Hungary – based on seasonally adjusted data – was 220 thousand in January 2026. In the period November 2025 to January 2026, the average duration of job search increased from 12.1 months to 12.2 months compared with a year earlier, while the share of long‑term unemployed (at least one year) remained 36%.

According to the administrative data of the National Employment Service, by the end of January 2026 the number of registered jobseekers increased by 3.7% compared to the previous month, and decreased by 2.6% to 224 thousand compared with a year earlier.

The December 2025 forecast of the National Bank of Hungary puts the unemployment rate at 4.8% in 2026 and 4.5% 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 decrease from 4.4% to 4.0% between the first and third quarters of 2026, while the IMF projects a rate of 4.2% for 2026 and 4.0% for 2027.