EU: Unemployment rate rises to 7.2% in July

By Gokhan Ergocun

ISTANBUL (AA) - The European Union's unemployment rate rose to 7.2% in July, up by 0.5 percentage points year-on-year, the bloc's statistical office reported on Tuesday.

The figure was also higher than 7.1% in the previous month, Eurostat said in a press release.

The eurozone unemployment rate was 7.9%, up from 7.7% in June 2020 and 7.5% in July 2019.

The eurozone/euro area or EA19 represents member states that use the single currency -- euro -- while the EU27 includes all member countries of the bloc.

It said 15.18 million men and women in the EU28, including 12.8 million in the euro area, were unemployed as of July.

The number of unemployed people rose by 336,000 on a monthly basis, and 927,000 year-on-year in July, across the 27-member bloc.

The highest unemployment rates were seen in Greece (17%), Spain (15.8%), and Italy (9.7%), and the lowest in Czechia (2.7%), and Poland (3.2%).

Eurostat also said there were some 2.9 million unemployed young people -- under 25 -- in the EU27 in July, making a 17% youth unemployment rate.