Unemployment rate stable in June
According to data released by Eurostat, labor market conditions in the common currency bloc were largely unchanged in June. The number of unemployed people increased 14,000, and the unemployment rate held firm at 8.3%. The unemployment rate is resting at the lowest rate since December 2008.
Looking at the countries with data available, Cyprus, Germany, Ireland, Portugal and Spain all saw their unemployment rates drop. Meanwhile, labor market conditions were unchanged the unemployment rate was unchanged in ten other economies. Austria and Italy were the only countries where the unemployment rate rose.
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 (20.2%, data refers to April), followed by Spain (15.2%) and Italy (10.9%). At the other end of the spectrum, Germany (3.4%) and Malta (3.9%) have the lowest unemployment rates. In addition, youth unemployment remains particularly pronounced in the periphery, coming in at 43.2% in Greece (data refers to April), 34.1% in Spain and 32.6% in Italy.