EU unemployment rate at 6.8 pct in August

By Tuba Sahin

ANKARA (AA) - The European Union's unemployment rate in August stood at 6.8 percent, the lowest figure recorded in the 28-member EU bloc since April 2008, Eurostat revealed on Monday.

"The EU28 unemployment rate was 6.8 percent in August 2018, stable compared with July 2018 and down from 7.5 percent in August 2017," the statistical office said in a statement.

The eurozone (EA19) unemployment rate was 8.1 percent last month, down from 9 percent in August 2017 -- the lowest rate recorded in the euro area since November 2008.

Eurostat projected that 16.7 million men and women in the EU28, of whom 13.2 million in the eurozone, were unemployed in the month, it said.

The number of unemployed people dropped by 114,000 in the EU and 102,000 in the eurozone compared to July.

"Compared with August 2017, unemployment fell by 1.921 million in the EU28 and by 1.419 million in the euro area," it said.

The report also showed that the highest unemployment rates were recorded in Greece with 19.1 percent -- June figures --, Spain with 15.2 percent.

The lowest rates were observed in the Czech Republic with 2.5 percent, Germany and Poland with both 3.4 percent.

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

"In August 2018, the youth unemployment rate was 14.8 percent in the EU28 and 16.6 percent in the euro area, compared with 16.6 percent and 18.5 percent, respectively in August 2017," the report read.

Germany recorded the lowest youth unemployment rate with 6.2 percent in the month. It was followed by the Czech Republic (6.3 percent) and the Netherlands (7.7 percent).

The highest youth unemployment rates were recorded in Greece (39.1 percent in June 2018), Spain (33.6) and Italy (31).