Brussels, 30/06/2015 (Agence Europe) - In May, the unemployment rate was stable at 11.1% in the eurozone and 9.6% in the EU as a whole.
According to the latest figures of the Statistical Office of the EU, which were published on Tuesday 30 June, the average unemployment rate was unchanged in May from the month of April, having stood at 11.2% in the eurozone and 9.7% in the EU in February and March.
The only notable upward variations in May were to be seen in Austria (from 5.8% to 6%), where unemployment has been on the rise for several months, Portugal (from 12.8% to 13.2%), which turns the trend of recent months on its head, and Romania (from 6.9% to 7.1%).
Other member states, on the other hand, saw their unemployment rates fall. This was the case with Lithuania, which saw a sizeable drop in one month (from 8.9% to 8.2%), but in particular Spain, where unemployment has been steadily falling by 0.2% a month (from 22.7% to 22.5%) and Croatia, where the number of people out of work is also consistently falling (from 16.2% to 15.8%).
In May, the unemployment rate for people under the age of 25 continued its downward trend, now standing at 21.1% in the eurozone and 20.6% in the EU as a whole, or a drop of 0.2% and 0.1% respectively compared to April. It fell in ten member states and rose in three (Finland, Portugal and the Netherlands). (Jan Kordys)