Unemployment rate inches down in August
Labor market conditions in the common currency bloc tightened in August, according to data released by Eurostat. The number of unemployed people decreased by 115,000, and the unemployment rate dipped from 7.5% in July to 7.4% in August. The result marks the lowest unemployment rate since May 2008.
Looking at the countries with data available, eight economies saw their unemployment rates edge down in August, including Italy. In contrast, four economies, including the Netherlands saw their unemployment rates rise.
Despite a large overall improvement in the Eurozone over recent years, disparities in the labor market among core and periphery countries persist. Greece is the economy in the Eurozone with by far the highest unemployment rate (17.0%, data refers to June), followed by Spain (13.8%). At the other end of the spectrum, Germany (3.1%), Malta (3.3%) and the Netherlands (3.5%) have the lowest unemployment rates.