We estimate that the seasonally adjusted registered unemployment rate rose to 4.12% in February 2025 from 4.04% a month earlier. According to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the seasonally unadjusted unemployment rate reached 4.4% in February, up 0.1% point from the previous month. Thus, the month-on-month change in the seasonally unadjusted unemployment rate in February reflects a seasonal increase in unemployment but also a partly cyclical deterioration.
On a year-over-year basis, February's unemployment rate is 0.4% points off its February 2024 level of 4%.
In 2024, the jobless rate reached 3.8% and its average for this year so far is 4.1%. This seasonally adjusted unemployment rate is 0.8% points above its first-quarter 2022 level since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and is 1.3% points higher than the pre-recession average of 2.8% in 2019. Since 2005, the share of registered unemployed according to our seasonal estimate reached its lowest level of 2.7% in June 2019, while its highest level of 8% comes from November 2013.
A different concept of the unemployment rate according to the CSO survey reached 2.7% in February 2025 on a seasonally adjusted basis, compared to 2.5% in the previous month or 2.7% a year ago. In 2024, the average general unemployment rate according to the CSO survey was 2.8% and so far this year it has reached an average of 2.6%. This sample unemployment rate reached its lowest since 1993 at 1.8% in February 2019 and its highest at 9.3% in January 2000.

CSU (selection). Labour Office (registration)

The general unemployment rate from the CSO is sampled against a sample of households in dwellings and measured against the labour force (the sum of employed and unemployed), while the unemployment rate from the Labour Office measures the number of registered job seekers aged 15-64 against the total population aged 15-64. \The CSO also publishes seasonally adjusted data, while the Labour Office publishes non-seasonally adjusted data and their seasonal adjustment is estimated by the CBA.

Economics

Monthly

Wage dynamics