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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 March 2025, component A (unemployment) stands at 98.9 points; component B (employment) stands at 100.3 points; the European labour market barometer averages both components and stands at 99.6 points. Values above 100 signal a positive outlook, values below 100 signal a negative outlook.
The IAB Labour Market Barometer in March 2025
Infographic: A line chart shows the European labour market barometer and its component A (unemployment) and component B (employment) as monthly time series from July 2018 until 2025.
Time Series European Labour Market Barometer 2018 until March 2025

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

European Labour Market Barometer: Downward trend halted for the time being – mixed developments in European countries

The European Labour Market Barometer is stabilizing. The leading indicator of the European Network of Public Employment Services and the IAB is at 99.6 points in March, remaining slightly negative. The downward trend since February has thus halted for the time being. "European labour markets may have bottomed out – but that doesn't mean an upturn," explains Enzo Weber, IAB head of forecast. The unemployment forecast component rose by 0.1 points, but at 98.9 points, unemployment is expected to rise. The employment forecast component, on the other hand, remains stable at 100.3 points, suggesting employment will remain stable or rise slightly. However, developments in European countries are mixed: The European Labour Market Barometer records just as many increases as decreases across European countries.

The time series of the European Labour Market Barometer, including its components for all 17 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"Opens in a new window

Run by the European Network of Public Employment ServicesOpens in a new window and the Institute for Employment Research (IAB),Opens in a new window the European Labour Market Barometer is based on a survey of the local or regional employment agencies in 17 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.

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

Release Dates

  • 28 April 2025
  • 26 May 2025
  • 26 June 2025
  • 29 July 2025
  • 27 August 2025
  • 25 September 2025
  • 28 October 2025
  • 26 November 2025
  • 30 December 2025

Contact

Professor Enzo Weber
Dr Christian Hutter

Period surveyed

June 2018 until March 2025

Date of publication

2025/3/26

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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)Opens in a new window

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