EU unemployment rate at 6.3% in May

By Muhammed Ali Gurtas

ANKARA (AA) - Unemployment in the EU stood at 6.3% in May, the bloc's statistical office reported Monday.

Eurostat said the figure fell from 6.4% in the previous month, and dropped from 6.9% in the same month last year.

The statistical office noted that the figure was the lowest rate recorded in the EU28 since the start of the EU monthly unemployment series in January 2000.

"The euro area (EA19) seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate was 7.5% in May 2019, down from 7.6% in April 2019 and from 8.3% in May 2018," it said.

The eurozone/euro area or EA19 represents member states that use the single currency -- euro -- while the EU28 includes all member countries of the bloc.

"Eurostat estimates that 15.6 million men and women in the EU28, of whom 12.3 million in the euro area, were unemployed in May 2019," it said.

The number of people unemployed across the 28-member bloc decreased by 71,000 month-on-month, and fell by 1.27 million year-on-year.

May's lowest figures were seen in the Czech Republic with 2.2% and in Germany with 3.1%.

The highest rates were observed in Greece (18.1% in March 2019, the latest available data), and Spain with 13.6%.

Eurostat also said there were some 3.2 million unemployed young people -- under 25 -- in the EU28 as of May, marking a 14.3% youth unemployment rate.

The highest youth unemployment figures were recorded in Greece, Spain, and Italy, and the lowest in Germany, the Czech Republic, and the Netherlands.