Eurostat reported this week that millions of people across the EU moved between employment, unemployment and inactivity between the second and third quarters of 2025, offering a clearer picture of the scale and direction of labour market flows at a time of relative macroeconomic stability.

Eurostat said that “3.1 million unemployed people in the EU found a job between the second and third quarters of 2025”, a figure representing 23.0 per cent of all those unemployed in the second quarter of the year.

During the same period, 7.0 million unemployed people, or 52.4 per cent, remained without work.

A further 3.3 million people moved in the opposite direction and exited the labour force altogether, amounting to 24.5 per cent of those who were unemployed in the previous quarter.

The new release forms part of Eurostat’s labour market flow statistics, which track transitions between employment, unemployment and inactivity rather than only static quarterly totals.

The data highlight ongoing churn within the EU labour market, even in quarters where headline indicators remain broadly stable.

Eurostat also reported that 2.6 million people who had been employed in the second quarter of 2025 became unemployed in the third quarter, representing 1.2 per cent of all workers.

In addition, 4.7 million employed people, or 2.2 per cent of the total, moved out of the labour force entirely.

The statistics show that flows operate in both directions.

From those outside the labour force in the second quarter of 2025, 4.2 million people moved into employment in the third quarter, equal to 3.7 per cent of all inactive people.

A further 3.9 million people, or 3.4 per cent, shifted into unemployment during the same period.