January 09, 2020

According to the latest report published by the Statistical Office of the European Union (Eurostat), “the euro area (EA19) seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate was 7.5% in November 2019 relative to October 2019 and down from 7.9% in November 2018.” Notably, since July 2008, this is the lowest rate recorded in the euro area. Additionally, “the EU28 unemployment rate was 6.3% in November 2019, stable compared with October 2019 and down from 6.6% in November 2018.”

In the EU28, there were 15.582 million men and women, of whom 12.315 million in the euro area were unemployed in November 2019. Additionally, relative to October 2019, the number of persons unemployed rose by 34,000 in the EU28 and fell by 10,000 in the euro area. It was further stated that, “compared with November 2018, unemployment fell by 768 000 in the EU28 and by 624 000 in the euro area.”

Member States

Notably, among the member states, in November 2019 the lowest unemployment rates were observed in in Czechia (2.2%), Germany (3.1%) and Poland (3.2%) whilst the largest unemployment rates were recorded in Greece (16.8% in September 2019) and Spain (14.1%).

Relative to a year ago, there was a fall in the unemployment rate for 20 Member States except Netherlands and Portugal, which remained stable while it increased in Luxembourg (from 5.4% to 5.5%), Slovenia (from 4.4% to 4.6%), Czechia (from 2.0% to 2.2%), Cyprus (from 7.5% to 7.7%), Sweden (from 6.5% to 6.9%) and Lithuania (from 5.8% to 6.4%). Greece (from 18.8% to 16.8% between September 2018 and September 2019), Bulgaria (from 4.8% to 3.7%), Estonia (from 5.3% to 4.2% between October 2018 and October 2019) and Croatia (from 7.5% to 6.5%) registered the largest decreases.

Furthermore, the unemployment rate in the United States in November 2019 was 3.5% compared with 3.6% in October 2019 and down from 3.7% in November 2018.

Youth Unemployment

In November 2019, the number of unemployed young person’s (Under 25 years old) amounted to 3.222 million in the EU28. Approximately 2.258 million of the 3.222 million persons were in the euro area. Compared with the prior year, youth unemployment fell by 111,000 in the EU28 and by 89 000 in the euro area. In November 2019, the youth unemployment rate was 14.3% in the EU28 and 15.6% in the euro area, compared with 14.8% and 16.3% respectively in November 2018.” Notably, the lowest youth unemployment rates were observed in Czechia (5.2%), Germany (5.9%) and Bulgaria (7.0%). Meanwhile the highest were recorded in Greece (32.5% in the third quarter of 2019), Spain (32.1%) and Italy (28.6%).

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