The unemployment rate for the euro area dropped by one-tenth of a percentage point in July, to 6.2%, while the rate for the European Union also fell by one-tenth, settling at 5.9%. These figures, published by Eurostat, show Spain with the highest level of unemployment among the 27 member states, with a rate of 10.4% for the second consecutive month.
Eurostat’s data indicates that 13 million people were unemployed in the EU in July of this year, with 10.8 million of those in the euro area. This represents a monthly decrease of 165,000 unemployed people in the EU and 170,000 in the euro area. Compared to the previous year, unemployment decreased by 105,000 people across the 27 member states and by 161,000 in the euro area.
Spain (10.4%), Finland (9.9%), and Sweden (8.9%) have the highest unemployment rates in the EU. In contrast, Malta (2.6%), the Czech Republic (2.8%), and Slovenia (2.9%) have the best figures.
As for youth unemployment (under 25), the rate fell by four-tenths of a percentage point in July in both the EU and the euro area, to 14.4% and 13.9%, respectively. In absolute terms, the number of unemployed young people in the EU reached 2.8 million, with 2.1 million of those in the euro area.
In Spain, of the 2.587 million people without a job in July, 437,000 were under 25 years old. This puts the Spanish youth unemployment rate at 23.5%, the fourth-highest among the 27 member states, behind Estonia, Sweden, and Finland.
