Eurozone unemployment rises despite lifting of coronavirus restrictions

The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for the euro area inched higher in June, reaching 7.8 percent, as Covid-19 containment measures started being phased out in most EU member states.

That’s worse than the 7.7 percent rate which had been expected by EU statistical office Eurostat. According to its data, the unemployment rate across the European Union also grew from 7.0 percent in May to 7.1 percent in June.

“Eurostat estimates that 15.023 million men and women in the EU, of whom 12.685 million in the euro area, were unemployed in June 2020,” the statistical office said. Compared with May 2020, the number of unemployed increased by 281,000 in the EU and by 203,000 in the euro area.

Data also showed that in June, 2.962 million young persons (under 25) were unemployed in the EU, of whom 2.360 million were in the eurozone. The youth unemployment rate was 16.8 percent in the EU and 17.0 percent in the euro area, up from 16.2 percent and 16.5 percent respectively the previous month. Compared with May, youth unemployment increased by 124,000 in the EU and by 80,000 in the eurozone.

The lowest unemployment among the EU countries in June was recorded in the Czech Republic (2.6 percent), Poland (three percent), Germany (4.2 percent) and Malta (4.2 percent). The highest level of unemployed was recorded in Greece (15.5 percent, as of April) and Spain (15.6 percent).

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