According to the August unemployment report from Eurostat, 6.6% of the labor force in the euro zone were involuntarily out of work. For the EU as a whole, the unemployment rate was 6.0%.
Both rates were an improvement over the past year, from 7.5% in the euro zone and 6.8% in the EU in total, in August 2021. However, both unemployment rates have stalled since May this year, falling by only 0.1 percentage points, from 6.7% and 6.1%, respectively.
The highest current unemployment rates in the EU are found in Spain (12.4%), Greece (12.2%), Cyprus (8.6%), Italy (7.8%), and Sweden (7.2%). Six countries have unemployment rates below 4%: the Czech Republic (2.4%), Poland (2.6%), Malta (2.9%), Germany (3.0%), Hungary (3.5%), and the Netherlands (3.8%).
In six countries, unemployment increased from July to August:
- Austria, from 4.6% to 5.2%;
- Cyprus, from 8.2% to 8.6%;
- Finland, from 6.9% to 7.0%;
- Ireland, from 4.2% to 4.3%;
- Luxembourg, from 4.3% to 4.4%; and
- the Netherlands, from 3.6% to 3.8%.
Only one country, Cyprus, had a higher unemployment rate in August this year compared to the same month in 2021: 8.6% compared to 6.6% a year ago. Estonia has not seen any year-to-year change in unemployment.
Among those younger than 25, unemployment for the euro zone was 13.9% in August, with the EU at 13.8%. Greece had the highest youth unemployment at 28.6%, followed by Spain (26.6%), Estonia (24.6), and Italy (21.2%). The lowest youth unemployment rates were recorded in Germany (5.7%), the Czech Republic (7.9%), Poland (8.4%), the Netherlands (8.6%), and Hungary (8.8%).
Five countries had not reported any youth unemployment numbers to Eurostat: Belgium, Croatia, Cyprus, Romania, and Slovenia.
