Spain led unemployment in the EU in December with a rate of 13.1%

MADRID, 1 Feb. (EUROPA PRESS) -

Unemployment in the euro area remained stable in December compared to the previous month at a record low of 6.6%, with Spain leading unemployment, with a rate of 13.1%, according to data published by Eurostat on Monday. , the community statistics office.

The unemployment rate in the euro area thus stood eight tenths below the level prior to the pandemic, since in February 2020 unemployment among the euro countries was 7.4%.

Likewise, in the European Union as a whole, the unemployment rate also repeated the all-time low of 6.1% of the previous month in December.

The European statistical office calculates that 13.148 million people were unemployed in the EU in December 2022, of which 11.048 million were in the euro zone. This represents a monthly increase of 28,000 unemployed in the EU and 23,000 in the euro zone.

Compared to December 2021, the number of unemployed people decreased by 518,000 in the EU and by 494,000 in the Eurozone.

Among the Twenty-seven, the highest unemployment rates corresponded to Spain, with 13.1%; Greece, with 11.6%; and Italy, with 7.8%. Conversely, the lowest unemployment figures were observed in the Czech Republic (2.3%), Poland and Germany (2.9% each).

In the case of those under 25 years of age, the unemployment rate in the euro zone remained stable at 14.8% in December, while in the EU as a whole the figure rose to 15% from 14.8% of November.

In absolute terms, the number of unemployed young people in the EU reached 2.86 million people in the last month of the year, of which 2.31 million corresponded to the euro area.

In the case of Spain, in December 2022, 3.08 million people were unemployed, of which 486,000 were under 25 years of age.

Thus, the youth unemployment rate in Spain was 29.6%, the highest among the Twenty-seven, ahead of Greece's 28.9% and Italy's 22.6%.