Positive Signs for Europe: Unemployment Rate Stays Low and Double-Digit Rates Dwindle

In May, the unemployment rate in the eurozone remained unchanged from the previous month at 6.4%, according to the International Labor Organization (ILO). This was a decrease of 0.1 percentage points compared to the same time last year, as stated by the European Statistical Office. The unemployment rate across the entire European Union (EU) also remained stable at six percent, maintaining its level from April and May of the previous year.

There were an estimated 13.2 million unemployed individuals in the EU in May, with 11.08 million of them residing in the eurozone. Despite slight increases on a monthly basis – 38 thousand in the eurozone and 13 thousand in the EU – yearly comparisons showed a decrease of three thousand in the eurozone and 163 thousand in the EU.

Spain and Greece were among only two countries within the EU to report double-digit unemployment rates in May, at 11.7 and 10.6 percent respectively. Sweden continued to have one of the lowest unemployment rates at 8.4%, while Finland had an even lower rate of 8.2%. Croatia’s unemployment rate dropped to 5.3% in May, down by 0.1 percentage points from April, with approximately 91,000 unemployed individuals recorded for that month alone.

The Czech Republic and Poland still held some of the lowest unemployment rates in Europe at just two percent each, with Malta and Slovenia following closely behind at three percent each, while Germany and Netherlands had slightly higher rates of three percent and three point six percent respectively but still relatively low compared to other countries . For individuals under 25 years old, youth unemployment rates remained stable or decreased slightly depending on region: Spain recorded its highest youth unemployment rate at