April 1, 2023 - The unemployment rate in the eurozone remained stable in February, and in Croatia it fell slightly, moving away from the average in the zone of application of the common European currency, a Eurostat report showed. Croatia employment rate is now similar to Slovakia's, according to the report.
As Index writes, in the 20-member eurozone, the unemployment rate measured by the methodology of the International Labor Organization (ILO) was 6.6 percent in February, remaining at the level of the previous month, according to revised data from the European Statistical Office.
In the EU, it was six percent, slipping by 0.1 percentage point compared to January. For the sake of comparison, in February 2022 it reached 6.8 percent in the eurozone, and 6.2 percent in the EU.
Eurostat estimates that there were 13.12 million unemployed in the EU in the second month of this year, of which 11.142 million were in the eurozone.
A comparison with January shows that the number of unemployed in the EU decreased by 24,000, and in the Eurozone by 59,000. On an annual level, their number decreased by 257 thousand in the Eurozone and by 247 thousand in the EU.
Croatia next to Lithuania
Spain and Greece are still the only ones with a double-digit unemployment rate, which reached 12.8 and 11.4 percent respectively in February.
In Croatia, the unemployment rate measured by the ILO methodology was 6.3 percent in February, sliding from 6.5 percent in January. In February 2022, it was 6.6 percent.
According to Eurostat data, 114,000 citizens were unemployed in Croatia in February, four thousand less than in the previous month, according to revised data. Compared to the same month last year, their number decreased by six thousand, the tables show.
The closest to Croatia in February was Lithuania with an unemployment rate of 6.5 percent. Slovakia is also close, where it was six percent.
The Czech Republic had by far the lowest unemployment rate in February, at 2.4 percent, followed by Poland with 2.8 percent and Germany with 2.9 percent. Malta and Slovenia are close, with an unemployment rate of three and 3.2 percent, respectively.
Stable youth unemployment
The unemployment rate of citizens under the age of 25 in February in the eurozone was 14.4 percent, the same as in the previous month.
In the EU, it increased by 0.1 percentage point on a monthly basis, to 14.5 percent. In February of last year, it was 14.2 percent in both areas, Eurostat tables show.
The statistical office estimates that 2,799 million young people were unemployed in the EU in February, of which 2,283 million were in the eurozone.
The number of unemployed young people in the eurozone in February was thus 125,000 higher than in the same period in 2022, and in the EU by 173,000, Eurostat announced.
Four countries above 20 percent
Greece had the highest youth unemployment rate in February, at 29.7 percent. Spain follows with 29.3 percent, Italy with 22.4 percent and Sweden with 22.2 percent. Slovakia is very close to them with a rate of 19.9 percent.
Among the EU countries with data available to Eurostat, Germany had the lowest youth unemployment rate in February, at 5.7 percent. The Czech Republic followed with 7.2 percent and the Netherlands with 7.8 percent.
Croatia, Belgium, Cyprus, Romania and Slovenia are not obliged to submit monthly data on unemployment, but submit them on a quarterly basis.
In the fourth quarter of last year, Croatia recorded an unemployment rate of 18 percent in that age group, with 27,000 young people without a job, confirmed the latest Eurostat table of revised figures from the report published last month.
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