Unemployment in the Eurozone stands at 11.8% for March 2014, a slight decline of 0.2% from march 2013.

Unemployment in the European Union reaches 10.5%, decreased by 0.4% since last year. Greece ranks first with the highest unemployment of 26.7% (January’s data) followed by Spain with 25.3%, and 17.4% in Cyprus. The lowest unemployment rate is recorded in Austria with 4.9%, Germany with 5.1% and Luxembourg with 6.1%.

Compared to last year, unemployment rose in ten member states, remained stable in three and fell in fifteen member states. Unemployment in our country has decreased somewhat from March 2013 when it reached 27%. The largest rise of unemployment was recorded in Cyprus (from 14.8% to 17.4%), the Netherlands (from 6.4% to 7.2%) and Italy (12% to 12.7%) while the largest decrease was in Hungary (from 11.2% to 7.9%), Latvia (13.9% to 11.6%) and Portugal (from 17.4% to 15.2%).

Youth Unemployment

In March 2014, 5.34 million people under 25 years of age are unemployment, 3426000 of whom live in Eurozone member states. Compared to March 2013, youth unemployment was reduced by 322000 in the EU and 166000 in the Eurozone.

The rate of youth unemployment in the Eurozone reaches 23.7% and 22.8% in the EU.

The highest rates of youth unemployment were recorded in Greece with 56.8% (January Data), Spain with 53.9% and Croatia with 49% (2014’s first quarter data) while the lowest was in Germany with 7.8%, Austria with 9.5% and the Netherlands with 11.3%.