Euro area unemployment at 6.4%, EU at 6.0% 💼 📊 In May 2024, the euro area seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate was 6.4%, stable compared with April 2024. The EU unemployment rate was 6.0% in May 2024, stable compared to April 2024. Lowest rates in: 🇨🇿 Czechia (2.7%) 🇵🇱 Poland (3.0%) 🇲🇹 Malta and 🇸🇮 Slovenia (both 3.2%) Highest rates in: 🇪🇸 Spain (11.7%) 🇬🇷 Greece (10.6%) 🇸🇪 Sweden (8.4%) For more info ➡ https://europa.eu/!Q3Hh3h #AskEurostat #statistics #EuropeanUnion #Europe #UnemploymentRate #Employment
Sometimes non-euro zone is doing better than euro zone. Just posting naked rates is not helpful. Nothing to celebrate at least, neither for policy makers nor people. Any justification is welcome!
Senior Adjunct Lecturer, Department of Economics, University of Maryland
2wIs it correct to assume that these are harmonized figures that use the same definition for unemployment across all EU countries? If not, the comparison is hardly of any use. Then there is the comparison across national definitions, which may produce different figures and what the EuroStat produces. For instance, Statistics Finland reported that May unemployment rate was 10.2% (as per Trading Economics), which is not only two percentage points higher than in the above chart but it is also much higher than in Sweden, unlike in the above chart, where the National Statistics reported unemployment rate at 8.7% (much closer to the EuroStat data). Similar discrepancies appear in other European countries. Can it be more confusing? There has to be a way to make it simpler for all, by deciding which ones to use for reporting purposes and policymaking. It simply is not acceptable that there are national definition in use in the European-wide system.