Eurozone unemployment edges up to 6.3% in August

Spain posts highest jobless rate at 10.3%, while Malta and Slovenia had lowest at 2.9%

By Mucahithan Avcioglu

ISTANBUL - The euro area’s unemployment rate rose to 6.3% in August from 6.2% in July, Eurostat said on Thursday, slightly missing market expectations that it would stay unchanged.

Across the wider European Union, the jobless rate held steady at 5.9%.

Eurostat estimated that 13.09 million people in the EU were unemployed in August, including 10.84 million in the eurozone. Compared to July, the number of jobless rose by 39,000 in the EU and by 11,000 in the euro area.

Youth unemployment remained a concern. About 2.82 million people age 25 and under were out of work across the EU, including 2.22 million in the eurozone. The youth jobless rate reached 14.6% in the EU, up from 14.4% a month earlier, while it stayed at 14% in the euro area.

Spain had the highest overall unemployment rate at 10.3%. Malta and Slovenia saw the lowest at 2.9% each.

The euro area — also referred to as EA20 — is made up of EU member states that use the bloc’s single currency, the euro.

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