Brussels, 29/08/2014 (Agence Europe) - Seasonally-adjusted unemployment stood at 11.5% in the eurozone in July 2014, according to the latest report by Eurostat, the EU's statistical office. This was unchanged on June 2014 and down from 11.9% in July 2013. Unemployment stood at 10.2% in the EU28 in July 2014, the same as in June 2014, and lower than the 10.9% recorded in July 2013. Eurostat says that, in July 2014, 24.85 million men and women were unemployed in the EU28, 18.4 million in the eurozone.
The lowest unemployment was recorded in Germany and Austria (both 4.9%) and the highest in Greece (27.2% in May 2014) and Spain (24.5%). Over the course of a year, unemployment fell in 22 member states, rose in three and remained unchanged in three. The most notable reductions in the unemployment rate were in Hungary (from 10.4% to 8.1% from June 2013 to June 2014), Portugal (from 16.3% to 14.0%), Croatia (from 18.1% to 16.2%), Spain (from 26.2% to 24.5%) and Ireland (from 13.1% to 11.5%). The three countries where unemployment rose were Finland (from 8.1% to 8.7%), Italy (from 12.1% to 12.6%) and Luxembourg (from 5.9% to 6.3%).
For youth unemployment (defined as the under-25-year-olds), Eurostat says that in July 2014, 5.062 million young people were unemployed in EU28, 3.327 million of them in the eurozone. Compared with July 2013, the number of unemployed youngsters has fallen by 563,000 in the EU28 and by 226,000 in the eurozone. Youth unemployment stood at 21.7% in the EU28 and 23.2% in the eurozone in July 2014, compared with 23.6% and 24.0% respectively in July 2013. The lowest rates were observed in Germany (7.8%), Austria (9.3%) and the Netherlands (10.4%) and the highest in Spain (53.8%), Greece (53.1% in May 2014) and Croatia (41.5% in the second quarter of 2014). (IL)