EU unemployment rate at 6.7 pct in September

By Jeyhun Aliyev

ANKARA

The European Union's unemployment rate was 6.7 percent in September, Eurostat revealed on Wednesday.

This was the lowest figure recorded in the 28-member EU bloc since January 2000, the report read.

"The EU28 unemployment rate was 6.7 percent in September 2018, stable compared with August 2018 and down from 7.5 percent in September 2017," the statistical office said in a statement.

The eurozone (EA19) seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate stood at 8.1 percent last month, down from 8.9 percent in September 2017 -- the lowest rate recorded in the euro area since November 2008.

Eurostat projected that around 16.6 million men and women in the EU28, of whom 13.1 million in the euro area, were unemployed in the month, it said.

The number of unemployed people dropped by 35,000 in the EU and rose by 2,000 in the eurozone compared to August.

"Compared with September 2017, unemployment fell by 1.793 million in the EU28 and by 1.309 million in the euro area," it said.

The report also showed that the highest unemployment rate among the member states was recorded in Greece at 19 percent (June figures), followed by Spain at 14.9 percent.

The lowest rates were observed in the Czech Republic at 2.3 percent, Germany and Poland at 3.4 percent.

The unemployment rate dropped in 27 member states and remained stable in Estonia, compared with 2017.

Eurostat noted that over 3.3 million young people under the age of 25 were unemployed in the EU last month.

"In September 2018, the youth unemployment rate was 14.9 percent in the EU28 and 16.8 percent in the euro area, compared with 16.5 percent and 18.3 percent respectively in September 2017," the report read.

The Czech Republic and Germany recorded both the lowest youth unemployment rate with 6.3 percent in the month.

The highest youth unemployment rates were recorded in Greece (37.9 percent in July 2018), followed by Spain (34.3 percent) and Italy (31.6 percent).