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European Labour Market Barometer

The European labour market barometer provides an outlook for the development of the European labour market in the next three months. In July 2026, component A (unemployment) stands at 100.0 points; component B (employment) stands at 100.1 points; the European labour market barometer averages both components and stands at 100.1 points. Values above 100 signal a positive outlook, values below 100 signal a negative outlook.
European Labour Market Barometer July 2026
Infographic: A line chart shows the European labour market barometer and its component A (unemployment) and component B (employment) as monthly time series from 2018 until 2026.
European Labour Market Barometer Time Series until July 2026

Accessible table of the time series of the European Labour Market Barometer

European Labour Market Barometer holds steady in July

The European Labour Market Barometer remains at 100.1 points in July, just above the neutral 100-point mark. Both components of the leading indicator of the European Network of Public Employment Services and the IAB are now almost neck and neck. The employment component falls slightly by 0.1 points to 100.1 points in July; it has dropped significantly since 2022. The component forecasting unemployment, on the other hand, rises slightly by 0.1 points to exactly 100 points. An upward trend has been observed here since 2024. “The European labour market remains stable overall, but the era of rising employment is over,” explains Enzo Weber, IAB head of forecast.

The time series of the European Labour Market Barometer, including its components for all 18 participating employment services, is available at www.iab.de/Presse/elmb-components. More information on the European Labour Market Barometer is available in our Magazine IAB-Forum: Launch of the “European Labour Market Barometer".

Run by the European Network of Public Employment Services and the Institute for Employment Research (IAB), the European Labour Market Barometer is based on a survey of the local or regional employment agencies in 18 PES services. A leading indicator of employment and unemployment in labour markets, the survey has been carried out jointly by the employment services and the IAB since June 2018. Agencies are asked to assess both the unemployment and employment outlook for the next three months, resulting in two components and one barometer for each PES. The European barometer is then derived from these national scores in the form of a weighted average.

Participating countries include: Belgium (German-speaking community, Wallonia), Bulgaria, Denmark, Germany, Iceland, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Austria, Poland, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland, Spain and Cyprus.

Taken from: Labour market barometer helps predict (un)employment trends | European Social Fund Plus (europa.eu)

Release Dates

  • 26 August 2026
  • 28 September 2026
  • 28 October 2026
  • 25 November 2026
  • 30 December 2026

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Period surveyed

June 2018 until July 2026

Date of publication

2026/7/29

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Rights of use

The data on the European Labour Market Barometer are published under the following Creative Commons license: Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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