Eurozone jobless figure remains stable, according to latest data

The latest dataset on EU and Eurozone unemployment has been released, indicating it has stabilised for the present.

The EU unemployment rate was 5.9% in August 2024, with more than 13 million people out of jobs across the bloc.

That was a 0.1% improvement on June and July, where it stood at 5.9% – the same figure as August last year.

High unemployment in Greece, Spain and Sweden

Within the eurozone, Eurostat data revealed a 6.4% unemployment rate in August, down only 0.1% from July and August 2024, and down 0.2% from August 2023.

Almost 11 million people are currently unemployed in the 20-country euro area. Looking at August 2023 figures, unemployment in the EU as a total was down by 142,000 and down by 233,000 in the euro area.

Spain (11.3%), Greece (9.5%) and Sweden (8.4%) have the highest unemployment rates of all. Czechia (2.6%), Poland (2.9%) and Malta (3.0%) showed the lowest ones.

Youth unemployment across EU remains concerning

There were still more than 2.7 million unemployed under 25s in August 2024 in the EU, 14.3% of the bloc, the dataset reveals.

However, compared with July 2024, youth unemployment was down by around 50,000 and by 102,000 from August last year.

The worst rates are in Spain (24.7%), Sweden (23.8%) and Estonia (22.7%).

Germany does best, with 6.8% of its youth unemployed, followed by Malta and the Netherlands (8.9% respectively).

Unemployment by sex: More jobless women than men

There are more women unemployed in the EU than men: 6.1% versus 5.7%. The trend for women is stable while men’s unemployment fell by 5.8% from July.

The unemployment peaks for women are in Greece (11.6%), Spain (12.8%) and Sweden (8.4%).