A report released by the Eurostat showed that in February, the unemployment rate dropped by 0.1% to 6.1%. Economists had expected the unemployment rate to remain unchanged. A year earlier, the unemployment rate was at 6.5%. Meanwhile, the EU unemployment rate was 5.7% in February, down from 5.8% in January and from 6.1% in February 2024.
Among the largest eurozone economies, Spain continues to have the highest unemployment rate (10.4%), followed by France (7.4%) and Italy (5.9%). Conversely, Germany recorded the lowest rate at 3.5%.
Eurostat reported that in February, the number of unemployed people in the eurozone fell by 70,000 compared to January and by 643,000 in annual terms, to 10.580 million. As for the EU countries, the number of unemployed amounted to 12.677 million (-13,000 for the month and -643,000 compared to February 2024).
The data also showed that youth unemployment (under 25) in the eurozone decreased by 85,000 compared to February 2024, reaching 2.272 million. In the EU, youth unemployment fell by 63,000, to 2.835 million. Meanwhile, the youth unemployment rate was 14.5% in the EU, down from 14.6% in January, and 14.2% in the eurozone, up from 14.1% in the previous month.
In the EU, the unemployment rate for women was 6.0%, stable compared with the previous month, and the unemployment rate for men was 5.5%, down from 5.6% in January. In the eurozone, the unemployment rate for women was 6.4%, stable compared with the previous month, and the unemployment rate for men was 5.9%, down from 6.0% in January.