Eurostat: Slight Decrease in Unemployment

The highest unemployment rate on a European level was recorded in Greece, followed by Spain and Croatia. Meanwhile, Germany, Austria and the Netherlands appear to have the lowest rates of unemployment. In Greece this February, unemployment stood at 26.5%, a slight decrease compared to January of the same year (27.6%), according to data released on June 3 by the European Statistical Service (Eurostat). Furthermore, the eurozone seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 11.7% in April 2014, a small decrease compared to 11.8% in March 2014, and 12.0% in April 2013. The EU-28 unemployment rate was 10.4% in April 2014, down from 10.5% in March 2014, and from 10.9% in April 2013. However, there are no data on unemployment in Greece for March and April 2014. Overall, in April 25.47 million unemployed were recorded in the EU and 18.75 million unemployed in the eurozone. Compared with the previous month, the number of unemployed people decreased by 151,000 in the EU and 76,000 in the eurozone. The highest levels of unemployment in the EU were recorded in Greece (26.5% in February) and Spain (25.1%), while the lowest were recorded in Austria (4.9%), Germany (5.2%) and Luxembourg (6.1%). Moreover, in Greece, the number of unemployed in February reached 1.3 million. The unemployment rate for men stood at 23.8% and for women at 30%. As far as the rates of youth unemployment in Greece (people under 25 years), they appear to have slightly increased, from 56.7% in January to 56.9% in February. Sadly, Greece still comes first in EU youth unemployment, followed by Spain (53.5%) and Croatia (49%). The lowest rates were recorded in Germany (7.9%), Austria (9.5%) and the Netherlands (11%). In April, youth unemployment in the EU stood at 22.5%, whereas in April 2013 it was 23.6% and 23.5% in the Eurozone whereas last April it was 23.9%. Finally, the largest increase in unemployment between March 2013 and March 2014 was recorded in Cyprus (from 15.6% to 16.4%) and the Netherlands (from 6.5% to 7.2%).

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