The number of Americans filing new applications for unemployment benefits increased marginally last week, suggesting that the labor market remained stable, though it is taking longer for laid-off workers to find new opportunities.
In June 2025, the euro area seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 6.2%, stable compared with May 2025 and down from 6.4% in June 2024. The EU unemployment rate was 5.9% in June 2025, also stable compared with May 2025 and down from 6.0% in June 2024. These figures are published by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.
Eurostat estimates that 12.967 million persons in the EU, of whom 10.700 million in the euro area, were unemployed in June 2025.
Compared with May 2025, unemployment decreased by 23 thousand in the EU and by 62 thousand in the euro area.
Compared with June 2024, unemployment decreased by 125 thousand in the EU and by 293 thousand in the euro area.
Youth unemployment
In June 2025, 2.857 million young persons (under 25) were unemployed in the EU, of whom 2.241 million were in the euro area. In June 2025, the youth unemployment rate was 14.7% in the EU, stable compared with May 2025, and 14.1% in the euro area, down from 14.3% in the previous month.
Compared with May 2025, youth unemployment decreased by 4 thousand in the EU and by 34 thousand in the euro area.
Compared with June 2024, youth unemployment decreased by 25 thousand in the EU and by 85 thousand in the euro area.
Unemployment by sex
In June 2025, the unemployment rate for women was 6.0% in the EU, down from 6.1% in the previous month, and the unemployment rate for men was 5.7%, stable compared to May 2025. In the euro area, the unemployment rate for women was 6.4%, down from 6.5% in the previous month, and the unemployment rate for men was 6.0%, stable compared to May 2025.
Additional labour market indicators
The estimates in this News Release are based on the globally used International Labour Organisation (ILO) standard definition of unemployment, which counts as unemployed people without a job who have been actively seeking work in the last four weeks and are available to start work within the next two weeks.
To capture in full the labour market situation, the data on unemployment have been complemented by additional indicators, e.g. underemployed part-time workers, persons seeking work but not immediately available and persons available to work but not seeking, released together with EU Labour Force Survey (EU-LFS) data for the first quarter of 2025.
EU-LFS data for the second quarter of 2025 will be released on 12 September 2025.
President Donald Trump said Thursday that there would be a 90-day negotiating period with Mexico after a call with that country’s leader, Claudia Sheinbaum, as the 25% tariff rates stay in place.
Trump, posting on Truth Social, said his phone conversation with Sheinbaum was “very successful in that, more and more, we are getting to know and understand each other.”
Trump said that goods from Mexico imported into the U.S. would continue to face a 25% tariff that the U.S. president has ostensibly linked to fentanyl trafficking. The Republican said that autos would face a 25% tariffs, while copper, aluminum and steel would be taxed at 50%.
Trump said that Mexico would end its “Non Tariff Trade Barriers,” but he didn’t provide specifics.
Some goods continue to be protected from the tariffs by the 2020 U.S. Mexico Canada Agreement, or USMCA, which Trump negotiated during his first term.
But Trump appeared to have soured on that deal, which is up for renegotiation next year. One of his first significant moves as president was to tariff goods from both Mexico and Canada earlier this year.
Census Bureau figures show that the U.S. ran a $171.5 billion trade imbalance with Mexico last year. That means the U.S. bought more goods from Mexico than it sold to the country.
The imbalance with Mexico has grown in the aftermath of the USMCA as it was only $63.3 billion in 2016, the year before Trump started his first term in office.
Besides addressing fentanyl trafficking, Trump has made it a goal to close the trade gap.
Consumer Spending Rises, but Inflation Clouds the Outlook
Today’s Personal Spending and Core PCE report confirms that the consumer pause is ending, but the recovery remains gradual and defined by new challenges.
Over the past few months, Americans have begun to resume spending after a period of caution. This shift is visible in the June numbers, which show that personal spending rose by 0.3 percent, up from no growth in May. Most of this increase came from services, which added $40.1 billion, while goods spending increased by $29.9 billion. Within goods, nondurables rose by $30.4 billion, offsetting a minor $0.5 billion decline in durable goods spending.
Personal income and disposable personal income both rose by 0.3 percent for the month, an increase of $71.4 billion and $61.0 billion, respectively. With disposable income growing in step with spending, the personal savings rate held steady at 4.5 percent, indicating that households are maintaining a cautious balance between spending and saving.
However, the impact of inflation is unmistakable. The PCE price index, which tracks overall consumer prices, increased by 0.3 percent in June and is up 2.6 percent year-over-year. The core PCE price index, which excludes food and energy and is the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation measure, also rose 0.3 percent on the month and remains elevated at 2.8 percent over the past year. Real disposable personal income, which accounts for inflation, was flat in June, while real personal consumption expenditures (spending power adjusted for price changes) edged up by just 0.1 percent.
For consumers, this means that higher prices are offsetting much of the benefit from rising incomes. Households are returning to spending, but the focus is on essentials and services that support everyday life, rather than on discretionary or big-ticket purchases. Brands and businesses are meeting a customer who is willing to spend but only on what delivers clear value.
For the Federal Reserve, these numbers are pivotal. The central bank held interest rates steady at its latest meeting, signaling that progress on inflation has stalled and that policymakers are prepared to wait for more concrete signs of price stability before making any move toward rate cuts. With core inflation stuck at 2.8 percent and spending growth modest, the outlook is for continued patience from the Fed. The conditions for a rate cut (a decisive slowdown in inflation and evidence of sustainable spending) have yet to fully materialize.
Microsoft on Thursday morning rose to become the world’s second $4 trillion company based on market cap in intraday trading, joining only chipmaker Nvidia in hitting the milestone. A day earlier, the tech giant outperformed analyst expectations with 18% revenue growth in its fiscal fourth quarter. The LinkedIn parent's cloud computing business powered gains, with Azure's annual revenue increasing 34% to eclipse $75 billion. The company reported $76.44 billion in quarterly revenue, with artificial intelligence as its "driving force," according to chief executive Satya Nadella.
Mark Zuckerberg is spending hundreds of billions to build super-intelligence and empower everyone's personal lives.
Over the last few weeks, he has been offering 100M+ offers to the best researchers and engineers at the top AI companies.
Meta has a distribution of 3.5 Billion Daily Active Users. Now, Zuck wants to empower all of them with a personal assistant.
In his own words, "Over the last few months, we have begun to see glimpses of our AI systems improving themselves. The improvement is slow for now, but undeniable. Developing superintelligence is now in sight.
Meta's vision is to bring personal superintelligence to everyone. We believe in putting this power in people's hands to direct it towards what they value in their own lives."
This picture is from Facebook’s little red book, which was shared with all their employees in 2012 and it very succinctly captures how Zuck runs Meta.
To share around!
The U.S. IRS has "Contact Representatives" positions open to the public at the cities listed below. Bilingual roles for Contact Representative available in Puerto Rico too.
Other positions available as well, announced internally and Career transition (CTAP, ICTAP, RPL). Check it out if you have been RIFed!
Open to Public Contact Reps USA:
Fresno, CA
100 vacancies
Baltimore, MD
100 vacancies
Saint Louis, MO
40 vacancies
Cheektowaga, NY
100 vacancies
Cleveland, OH
40 vacancies
Richmond, VA
100 vacancies
Seattle, WA
20 vacancies