Above the pandemic peak
In August 2026, 4.0% of Germany’s labour force aged 15 to 74 was unemployed, 1,760,000 people. In the pandemic, the rate peaked at 3.9%, in August 2020 and again from January to March 2021, and the number at 1,625,000, in February 2021. The figures are Eurostat’s monthly trend for Germany, updated on 8 October 2026.
Two years earlier, in August 2024, the rate was 3.4% and 1,507,000 people were unemployed. It has stood at 4.0% since June 2026, a level last reached in June 2016, and the number is the highest since August 2015.
Germany’s rate is still well below the European Union’s, 6.1% in August 2026. The quarterly Labour Force Survey points the same way as the monthly trend: 3.4% in the second quarter of 2024, 3.9% in the second quarter of 2026, and 3.7% in the second quarter of 2021.
| Age | August 2026 | August 2024 | Peak 2020 to 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 15 to 74 | 4.0% | 3.4% | 3.9% |
| 25 to 74 | 3.7% | 3.0% | 3.4% |
| Under 25 | 7.4% | 6.8% | 8.4% |
What the figure measures
The rate is the share of the labour force that is unemployed, not the share of the whole population. The labour force is everyone aged 15 to 74 who is working or looking for work; students, retired people and others who are not looking are in neither part of the fraction.
Unemployed means the ILO definition: without work, available and looking. It is measured by Germany’s Labour Force Survey. It is not the number of people registered as unemployed with the Federal Employment Agency, a different count with its own definition, and the two should not be read as one.
The monthly figure is a trend, smoothed, and its latest months can be revised. 4.0% against 3.9% is one decimal apart, so the count matters too: 1,760,000 against 1,625,000. Eurostat flags a break in Germany’s series in January 2009, so nothing earlier is compared here, and its quarterly table has no German figures for 2020.
- THE FRACTION: unemployed people aged 15 to 74 divided by everyone aged 15 to 74 in the labour force, working or looking. People who are neither working nor looking are in neither part.
- THE DEFINITION: unemployed under the ILO definition, without work, available to start within two weeks and having looked for work in the past four weeks. It is not the count of people registered as unemployed with the Federal Employment Agency, which uses its own definition and is published separately.
- THE SERIES: for Germany, Eurostat publishes a trend rather than a seasonally adjusted month, because the monthly survey figures move too much from one month to the next. A trend is smoothed, and its latest months are revised as new months arrive.
So 4.0% does not say that one German in twenty-five is out of work: it says that of the people aged 15 to 74 who were working or looking for work in August 2026, 4.0% had no job, were available and were looking for one.
One fraction, one definition and one smoothed series, and a reading that forgets any of them says what the source does not.
The rise is among adults
Of the 253,000 more people unemployed in August 2026 than two years earlier, 231,000 are aged 25 to 74. Their number rose from 1,201,000 to 1,432,000, the highest since December 2015, and their rate from 3.0% to 3.7%, the highest since March 2016 and above its own pandemic peak of 3.4%.
Under 25, the rate rose from 6.8% to 7.4%, but it is still below its 2020 peak of 8.4%. 328,000 people under 25 were unemployed in August 2026, against 307,000 two years earlier and 350,000 at the 2020 peak.
The young are still more likely to be unemployed: 7.4% under 25, twice the 3.7% among adults. What has changed is where the increase is: nine in ten of the additional unemployed are aged 25 to 74.
| Age | August 2026 | August 2024 | Change | Peak 2020 to 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15 to 74 | 1,760,000 | 1,507,000 | +253,000 | 1,625,000 |
| 25 to 74 | 1,432,000 | 1,201,000 | +231,000 | 1,296,000 |
| Under 25 | 328,000 | 307,000 | +21,000 | 350,000 |
What these figures do not say
They do not say why. Nothing here measures industry, energy prices, trade, migration or interest rates, and no policy is assessed.
They do not say how many jobs are open, how long a search takes, or what anyone is paid, and they say nothing about any region of Germany, about men or women separately, or about any occupation or sector.
They do not say what comes next. Eurostat has not yet published Germany’s September figure, the trend can be revised, and none of this is a forecast.
