Employment in Europe 2025: Calabria, Campania and Sicily among the lowest-ranked regions; Italia tops the list for regional disparities
Eurostat highlights a marked divide between northern and southern Italia, with the highest employment rate recorded in Bolzano (80 per cent). Lazio is also among the European regions with an employment rate below the EU average. Campania and Sicily are among the regions with the highest unemployment rates.
Key points
- Lazio is also among the regions with an employment rate below the average
- In 2025, Italia recorded the highest regional disparity in employment rates
- Campania and Sicily top the list of European regions with the highest unemployment rates
- Molise is among the regions with the highest rates of long-term unemployment
The southern Italian regions of Calabria, Campania and Sicily have the lowest employment rates in Europe, alongside the French outermost regions of Mayotte and French Guiana.
This is highlighted by Eurostat in its regional labour market statistics for 2025. Many of the regions with relatively low employment rates are characterised by rural, sparsely populated areas or peripheral regions of the EU, the report states. This pattern is particularly evident in the southern regions of Spain and Italia, in much of Greece, in some regions of Romania and in the outermost regions of France. These are regions typically characterised by limited job opportunities, particularly for people with medium and high skill levels.
Lazio is also among the regions with a below-average employment rate
In 2025, the average European employment rate stood at 76.1 per cent, but around a quarter of all EU regions – 64 out of 244 – recorded employment rates below 74 per cent. This group includes 11 Italian regions, concentrated almost exclusively in central and southern Italia, with the lowest rates observed in Calabria (50.3 per cent), Campania (50.8 per cent) and Sicily (51.4 per cent). The list also includes 11 French regions, comprising all five outermost regions; Mayotte and French Guiana recorded the lowest employment rates in the EU, at 36.9 per cent and 50 per cent respectively. The list also includes 11 of the 13 Greek regions, with the exception of Crete and the Peloponnese, along with 11 Spanish regions, many of which are peripheral, insular or predominantly rural. There are also 7 of the 8 Romanian regions, with the exception of the Bucharest-Ilfov capital region
It should be noted that the capital regions of the Région de Bruxelles-Capitale / Bruxelles Hoofdstedelijk Gewest in Belgium (63.9%), Lazio in Italy (69.3 per cent), Vienna in Austria (71.3 per cent) and Attica in Greece (73.1 per cent), as well as Luxembourg (73.9 per cent), all recorded employment rates below the EU average.
In 2025, Italia recorded the highest regional disparity in employment rates
Italia is the European country that recorded the greatest regional disparity in employment rates in 2025, with a coefficient of variation of 15.1 per cent. In general, there was a north-south divide: the Autonomous Province of Bolzano had the highest employment rate in Italy (80 per cent), whilst the southern region of Calabria had the lowest (50.3 per cent).
