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Unemployment: Euro area at 9.1% and EU28 at 7.7%

Jul 31, 2017 | News

(31 July 2017) – This is the lowest rate recorded in the euro area since February 2009 and since December 2008 in the EU28. But youth unemployment generally remains very high.

Pôle Emploi
© Julien Faure

Among the Member States, the lowest unemployment rates in June 2017 were recorded in the Czech Republic (2,9%), Germany (3.8%) and Malta (4.1%). The highest unemployment rates were observed in Greece (21.7% in April 2017) and Spain (17.1%).

Compared with a year ago, the unemployment rate fell in all Member States, except Estonia which showed an increase (from 6.5% in May 2016 to 6.9% in May 2017). The largest decreases were registered in Spain (from 19.9% to 17.1%) and Croatia (from 13.3% to 10.6%).

In June 2017, the youth unemployment rate was 16.7% in the EU28 and 18.7% in the euro area. In June 2017, the lowest rate was observed in Germany (6.7%), while the highest were recorded in Greece (45.5% in April 2017), Spain (39.2%) and Italy (35.4%).

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