Unemployment rate inches down in August
According to data released by Eurostat, labor market conditions in the common currency bloc improved in August. The number of unemployed people decreased 102,000, and the unemployment rate inched down from 8.2% in July to 8.1% in August. The unemployment rate is resting at the lowest rate since November 2008.
Looking at the countries with data available, several countries saw their unemployment rates drop in August, with Italy and Ireland seeing the largest improvements. In contrast, Estonia, France and the Netherlands were the only countries to see the unemployment rate rise.
Despite the overall improvement in the Eurozone over recent years, disparities in the labor market among countries persist. Greece is the economy in the Eurozone with by far the highest unemployment rate (19.0%, data refers to July), followed by Spain (15.2%) and Italy (9.7%). At the other end of the spectrum, Germany (3.4%) and Malta (3.8%) have the lowest unemployment rates.