According to the figures published by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, on Wednesday 4 April, the seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate in the eurozone was 8.5% in February 2018. This is the lowest rate recorded in the eurozone since December 2008.
This rate is therefore 0.1% lower than in January 2018 (see EUROPE 11972) and 1% lower than in February 2017 (see EUROPE 11760). The EU28 unemployment rate was 7.1% in February 2018, down by 0.1% compared to figures for the previous month and by 0.9% compared to February 2017.
Eurostat estimates that 17.632 million men and women in the EU28, of whom 13.916 million are in the eurozone, were unemployed in February 2018. These figures, however, conceal significant disparities in the EU member states.
Although the lowest unemployment rates in February 2018 were recorded in the Czech Republic (2.4%), Germany and Malta (both 3.5%), the rate observed in Greece was 20.8% (in December 2017) and 16.1 % in Spain despite a 2.6% fall in the latter’s unemployment rate between December 2016 and December 2017.
In February 2018, the youth (under 25) unemployment rate was 15.9% in the EU28 and 17.7% in the eurozone, which represent falls of 1.7% and 1.4% respectively compared to February last year. Significant differences can also be observed in this area with rates of 6.2% in Germany and 45.0% in Greece (in December 2017). (Original version in French by Lucas Tripoteau)