Unemployment rate steady in July
Labor market conditions in the common currency bloc were broadly stable in July, according to data released by Eurostat. The number of unemployed people decreased by 16,000, and the unemployment rate was unchanged at June’s 7.6% in July. The result marks the lowest unemployment rate since July 2008.
Looking at the countries with data available, four economies saw their unemployment rates edge up in July, including Italy. In contrast, seven economies, including Germany saw their unemployment rates drop.
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 (17.2%, data refers to May), followed by Spain (13.9%). At the other end of the spectrum, Germany (3.0%), Malta (3.4%) and the Netherlands (3.4%) have the lowest unemployment rates.