Slow and Steady: Europe’s Unemployment Rate Stays Stable, but Some Countries Still Struggle to Keep Up

The unemployment rate in the European Union (EU) and the eurozone remained stable in May, with six percent being the average across both regions. This is a significant improvement from the same time last year, where the unemployment rate was 6.5% in the EU and 6.4% in the eurozone.

According to Eurostat, 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 this, there was a slight increase in unemployment numbers on a monthly basis, with an increase of 38 thousand in the eurozone and 13 thousand in the EU.

However, some countries within the EU experienced higher levels of unemployment than others. Spain and Greece had double-digit unemployment rates at 11.7% and 10.6%, respectively, while Sweden continued to have one of the lowest unemployment rates at 8.4%. In Croatia, the unemployment rate dropped to 5.3% from April, with over 90 thousand unemployed individuals recorded for May.

The Czech Republic and Poland held their positions as having some of the lowest unemployment rates within Europe at 2.7% and three percent respectively. Other countries such as Malta and Slovenia also reported low youth unemployment rates at just over three percent each while Germany and Netherlands followed closely behind at around three-and-a-half percent respectively for individuals under twenty-five years old.

In terms of youth employment rates, Spain had one of the highest rates at a staggering twenty-six point six percent followed by Sweden which had twenty four point one percent.

Overall, despite slight increases on a monthly basis, it’s important to note that there has been progress made towards lowering levels of unemployment across Europe as compared to previous months and years.