In the 20-member eurozone, the unemployment rate measured by the methodology of the International Labor Organization (ILO) was 6.4 percent in May, sticking to the same level as the previous month. This rate is lower by 0.1 percentage points compared to May of the previous year, as reported by the European Statistical Office. The EU also maintained its unemployment rate at six percent in May, the same level as in April and the same as in May of the previous year. Eurostat reported that there were 13.2 million unemployed citizens in the EU in May, with 11.08 million of them in the eurozone.
When comparing data between May and April, the number of unemployed individuals increased by 38 thousand in the Eurozone and by 13 thousand in the EU. On an annual basis, the number grew by three thousand in the Eurozone and by 163 thousand in the EU. Spain and Greece were the only countries in the eurozone to record a double-digit unemployment rate in May, at 11.7 percent and 10.6 percent, respectively. Sweden had the lowest single-digit unemployment rate in the EU at 8.4 percent, followed by Finland with 8.2 percent.
In Croatia, the unemployment rate measured by the ILO methodology was 5.3 percent in May, a decrease of 0.1 percentage point from April. There were 91,000 unemployed citizens in Croatia in May, with a decrease of 1,000 compared to April and a decrease of 13,000 compared to May of the previous year. Romania was the closest to Croatia in May with an unemployment rate of 5.4 percent.
The lowest unemployment rates were recorded in the Czech Republic and Poland at 2.7 and 3 percent, respectively. Other countries with low unemployment rates include Malta and Slovenia at 3.2 percent, and Germany and the Netherlands at 3.3 and 3.6 percent, respectively. In the eurozone, the unemployment rate for individuals under 25 years old remained at 14.2 percent in May, the same level as in April. In the EU, the rate decreased by 0.1 percentage points, falling to 14.4 percent in May. In comparison, May of the previous year saw similar rates in both areas.
Statisticians estimated that there were 2.83 million unemployed young people in the EU in May, with almost 2.3 million of them in the eurozone. Compared to the previous year, the number of unemployed youth increased by 32 thousand in the eurozone and by 80 thousand in the EU. Spain had the highest youth unemployment rate in May at 26.6 percent, followed by Sweden at 24.1 percent, Greece and Portugal at 23.8 and 23 percent, Slovakia and Italy at 20.6 and 20.5 percent, respectively. Germany had the lowest youth unemployment rate at six percent, followed by Ireland and the Czech Republic.