EU: Unemployment rises to 7.5% in December

Greece, Spain and Lithuania post highest unemployment rates among EU countries

By Gokhan Ergocun

ISTANBUL (AA) - The EU's unemployment rate rose to 7.5% in December, up 1 percentage point year-on-year, the bloc's statistical office reported on Monday.

The eurozone unemployment rate was also up by 0.9 percentage point to 8.3% in the last month of 2020 on a yearly basis, Eurostat said in a press release.

The eurozone/euro area or EA19 represents member states that use the single currency – euro – while the EU27 includes all member countries of the bloc.

Eurostat said nearly 16 million men and women in the EU27, including 13.67 million in the euro area, were unemployed as of December.

The number of unemployed people was up by 67,000 on a monthly basis, and 1.95 million on a yearly basis in December, across the 27-member bloc.

The highest unemployment rates were posted by Greece (16.7%), Spain (16.2%), and Lithuania (10.1%), and the lowest by the Czech Republic (3.1%) and Poland (3.3%).

Meanwhile, there were some 3.14 million unemployed aged under 25 in the EU27 in December, making a 17.8% youth unemployment rate.

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