EU unemployment rate down in April

By Gokhan Ergocun

ANKARA (AA) - The European Union's unemployment rate was 7.1 percent in April, down from 7.8 percent the same month last year, according to Eurostat on Thursday.

"This remains the lowest rate recorded in the EU28 since September 2008," it said.

The unemployment rate in the Euro Area (EA19) also decreased to 8.5 percent, compared to 9.2 percent in April 2017. This is also the lowest level since December 2008.

Unemployment fell by 1.63 million in the EU28 and 1.09 million in the EA19 in April over the same month last year.

The institute estimated that around 17.46 million men and women in the EU28 and around 13.88 million in the EA19 were unemployed as of April.

According to the data, the Czech Republic had the lowest unemployment rate at 2.2 percent in April. Malta and Germany followed with 3 percent and 3.4 percent, respectively.

The highest figures were recorded in Greece, 20.8 percent, and in Spain at 15.9 percent.

In the past decade, the highest annual unemployment rate in the EU was recorded in 2013 (10.9 percent), while the lowest level was 7 percent in 2008.

Youth unemployment rate -- of those aged under 25 -- decreased both in EU28 and EA19. EU28 has 3.43 million young unemployed persons, of whom 2.43 million were in the EA19.

"In April 2018, the youth unemployment rate was 15.3 percent in the EU28 and 17.2 percent in the euro area, compared with 17.2 percent and 19.3 percent respectively in April 2017," Eurostat said.

Meanwhile, the preliminary flash estimate for May 2018 showed that Euro area annual inflation to be 1.9 percent, up from 1.2 percent in the previous month, the Eurostat said.