Portugal is the European Union country where the employment rate grew the most between the first and second quarter of 2026, alongside Malta, according to Eurostat data released this Friday. Portugal's employment rate stood at 80.7%, well above the EU average of 76.4%. Across the EU as a whole, the employment rate for people aged 20 to 64 reached 76.4% in the second quarter, slightly above the 76.3% from the previous quarter.
Portugal and Malta recorded the largest quarter-on-quarter increases, with growth of 0.6 percentage points in both countries. Greece, Latvia, and Slovenia followed with increases of 0.5 and 0.4 percentage points respectively. Conversely, nine Member States experienced employment declines, with the steepest drops in Austria, Lithuania, and Sweden, while four countries maintained stable employment levels.
Eurostat also revealed that over three million people who were unemployed at the beginning of the year found new employment between April and June. A total of 3.1 million people transitioned from unemployment to employment, representing 23.2% of all employed persons in the first quarter. However, 3.2 million people left the labor force, a number higher than those who managed to find employment.
Among individuals who were employed at the beginning of 2026, 96.5% (201.4 million) remained in employment, while 1.2% (2.5 million) moved into unemployment and 2.3% (4.8 million) left the labor market. Among those who were outside the labor force, 92.8% continued in that situation, but 3.9 million began seeking employment and 4.2 million started a new professional challenge.
