EU unemployment rate at 6.5% in March

By Muhammed Ali Gurtas

ANKARA (AA) - Unemployment in the EU stood at 6.4% in March, the bloc's statistical office announced Tuesday.

Eurostat said the figure fell from 6.5% in the previous month, and dropped from 7% in the same month last year.

"The euro area (EA19) seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate was 7.7% in March 2019, down from 7.8% in February 2019 and from 8.5% in March 2018," the statistical office 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 15.9 million men and women in the EU28, of whom 12.6 million in the euro area, were unemployed in March 2019," it said.

The number of people unemployed across the 28-member bloc fell by 172,000 month-on-month, and decreased by 1.43 million on a yearly basis.

March's lowest unemployment rates were recorded in the Czech Republic with 1.9% and in Germany with 3.2%.

The highest figures were seen in Greece (18.5% in January 2019, the latest available figures), Spain (14%), and Italy with 10.2%.

Eurostat also said there were 3.28 million unemployed young people -- under 25 -- in the EU28 as of March, with a 14.5% youth unemployment rate.

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