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Queues of unemployed in Madrid (archive image)
Photo: REUTERS
In the eurozone, the unemployment rate rose for the fifth month in a row in August and reached its highest level since July 2018.
The Eurostat statistics office announced that the rate had risen by 0.1 percentage points to 8.1 percent.
This largely corresponded to the expectations of experts who had expected a further increase in unemployment as a result of the corona crisis.
In addition, the value for July has been revised upwards from 7.9 percent to 8.0 percent.
In March the rate had reached a low of 7.2 percent and then increased during the Corona crisis.
Previously there had been a steady decline in unemployment in the euro zone.
Since the record high of more than 12 percent in 2013, the situation on the labor market had steadily improved until the corona crisis.
Greater rise in youth unemployment
According to Eurostat, 13.2 million people were unemployed in the euro area in August.
Compared to the previous month, the number of unemployed rose by 251,000.
Youth unemployment rose at an above-average rate.
In the euro area, the unemployment rate for people under the age of 25 was 18.1 percent in August, compared with 17.8 percent in July.
The measures taken to contain the corona pandemic have led to a sharp increase in the number of applications for unemployment benefits.
At the same time, a significant proportion of those who had registered with employment offices were no longer actively looking for a job or were no longer available because they had to look after their children, for example.
This leads to discrepancies in the number of registered unemployed and those classified as unemployed according to the definition of the International Labor Organization (ILO).
Eurostat's labor market data are based on survey methods from the International Labor Organization and cannot be compared with national data from the German Federal Employment Agency.
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beb / dpa