The eurozone’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate held at 6.4% in August 2026, unchanged since February and matching economists’ forecasts, according to Eurostat. The reading was also in line with a consensus of economists polled by The Wall Street Journal and remained close to the bloc’s 6.2% record low, despite higher interest rates and an energy crunch driven by the war in the Middle East. The number of unemployed rose by 26,000 from July to 11.357 million, while youth unemployment edged down to 15% from 15.1%, with 2.391 million people under 25 unemployed. Germany and the Netherlands recorded the bloc’s lowest rates at 4%, while Spain stood at 10%, France at 8.2% and Italy at 6.2%. The eurozone rate was 6.3% a year earlier, while unemployment across the European Union remained at 6.1% for a seventh consecutive month. Italy’s rate rose from an upwardly revised 6.0% in July, exceeding the 5.7% market expectation, as unemployment increased by 48,000 to 1.59 million and employment fell by 5,000 to 24.35 million. Italy’s youth unemployment rate climbed to 20.3%. Separately, Chile’s unemployment rate rose to 9.6% in the June-August 2026 quarter from 9.5%, slightly above forecasts, as employment declined and informal employment reached 26.3%.