The unemployment rate in the euro zone remained stable in April compared to March, at 6.8% of the working population, its lowest level ever, Eurostat announced on Wednesday.
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Since December, this indicator has been at its lowest since the European statistics office began compiling this series in April 1998. For the EU as a whole, the unemployment rate remained at 6.2% in April, also a historic low.
The labor market has benefited from the strong rebound in the European economy that began in the spring of 2021, after the recession linked to the Covid-19 pandemic.
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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 April, the unemployment rate fell by 1.4 points in the euro zone and by 1.3 points in the EU.
A particularly low unemployment rate among young people
The improvement was even more marked among young people.
The unemployment rate for people under 25 fell by 4.7 points compared to April 2021 in the euro zone to reach 13.9%, the same rate as in the EU.
However, some 13.26 million men and women remained unemployed among the 27 member countries, including 11.18 million in the 19 countries sharing the single currency.
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In the EU, the highest unemployment rates in April were recorded in Spain (13.3%), Greece (12.7%) and Italy (8.4%).
In France, 7.2% of the active population was unemployed, according to harmonized data from Eurostat.
The Czech Republic (2.4%), Germany (3%) and Poland (3%) had the lowest unemployment rates.
