The official unemployment rate was 32,7% in the first quarter of 2026

According to the QLFS Q1: 2026 results, there was a decrease of 345 000 in the number of employed persons to 16,8 million, while there was an increase of 301 000 in the number of unemployed persons to 8,1 million compared with Q4: 2025 results. This resulted in a decrease of 44 000 (or -0,2%) in the labour force during the same period.

The above changes in employment and unemployment resulted in the official unemployment rate (LU1) increasing by 1,3 percentage points from 31,4% in the fourth quarter of 2025 to 32,7% in the first quarter of 2026.

In the same period, discouraged job-seekers increased by 178 000 to 3,9 million, other available job-seekers increased by 55 000 to 910 000, and unavailable job-seekers increased by 6 000 to 49 000, resulting in a total net increase of 240 000 to 4,9 million in the potential labour force population (i.e. persons who were available but not seeking or unavailable but seeking). Those outside the labour force for other reasons decreased by 75 000 to 12,4 million. Persons outside the labour force, which is the total of those in potential labour force and others outside the labour force, increased by 164 000 to 17,3 million in the first quarter of 2026.

In addition to the unemployment rate (LU1), other measures of labour underutilisation (LU) were measured. The combined rate of unemployment and time-related underemployment (LU2) increased by 1,6 percentage points to 35,9%; the combined rate of unemployment and potential labour force (LU3) increased by 1,6 percentage points to 43,7% in the first quarter compared with the fourth quarter of 2026. The composite measure of labour underutilisation (LU4) (which combines time-related underemployment, unemployment and potential labour force as a proportion of extended labour force) was 46,3% in the first quarter of 2026. These labour underutilisation measures highlight people in different situations and with different degrees of attachment to the labour market.