The unemployment rate in the euro zone fell in May to 6.6% of the active population, after 6.7% in April, reaching a new historic low, Eurostat announced on Thursday.
Since December, the indicator has been at its lowest monthly level since the European statistics office started compiling this series in April 1998. For the whole of the European Union, the unemployment rate fell to 6, 1% in May, also a historic low.
Read alsoFaced with recruitment difficulties, Apec recalls that 100,000 senior executives are still registered as unemployed
The labor market has benefited from the strong rebound in the European economy that began in the spring of 2021, recovering sharply after the recession linked to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The war in Ukraine, which is already beginning to penalize activity, however casts a shadow over the outlook for the coming months, as growth forecasts in Europe have been drastically revised downwards while inflation is soaring.
But the consequences of this deterioration are not yet visible in the employment figures.
A drop of 1.5 points over one year in May in the euro zone
In May, Brussels lowered its gross domestic product (GDP) growth forecast for the euro zone in 2022 by 1.3 points to 2.7% and increased its inflation forecast by 3.5 points to 6. 1%, compared to the figures announced on February 10 before the start of the Russian offensive.
Over one year, in May, the unemployment rate fell by 1.5 points in the euro zone and by 1.2 points in the EU.
The improvement was even more marked among young people.
The unemployment rate for people under 25 fell by 4.7 points from May 2021 in the euro area to 13.1%, compared to 13.3% in the EU as a whole.
However, some 13.07 million men and women remained unemployed among the 27 member countries, including 11 million in the 19 countries sharing the single currency.
Read alsoA drop in unemployment in many countries
In the EU, the highest unemployment rates in May were recorded in Spain (13.1%), Italy (8.1%) and Sweden (7.7%).
In France, 7.2% of the active population was unemployed, according to harmonized data from Eurostat.
The Czech Republic (2.5%), Poland (2.7%) and Germany (2.8%) had the lowest unemployment rates.
The unemployment rate is the number of unemployed as a percentage of the labor force.
Eurostat figures are based on the International Labor Office (ILO) definition of unemployment.
Unemployed persons are considered to be unemployed persons who have actively sought work in the previous four weeks and are available to start work in the next two weeks.
