Unemployment at its lowest since financial crisis

Eurostat’s latest unemployment figures, released today, show that the average unemployment rate in the EU was 7.7% in June, remaining stable compared to May. Compared to the same month last year, unemployment is down by 0.9 percentage points. However, between EU member states there are still large differences, with unemployment rates being the lowest in the Czech Republic (2.9%) and Germany (3.8%) and highest in Greece (21.7%) and Spain (17.1%). Following the data release, BusinessEurope Director General Markus J. Beyrer commented: “Unemployment in the European Union is at its lowest level since the economic crisis started in 2008, indicating that the benefits of labour market reforms carried out in recent years are gradually paying off. However, while this is a strong improvement compared to 2013 heights, unemployment remains above pre-crisis levels, suggesting that reforms are still required in a number of members states to support strong job creation.”