Compared with August, the number of unemployed in the Euro Area rose by 2,000 to 13.153 million. Compared with the previous year, it declined by 1.309 million.
Considering the European Union as a whole, the unemployment rate stood at 6.7 percent in September, stable compared to the prior month and down from 7.5 percent a year earlier. It was the lowest rate recorded in the EU28 since series began in January 2000. There were 16.574 million people unemployed, a decrease of 35,000 from the previous month and of 1.793 million from September 2017.
Among EU Member States, the lowest jobless rates in September were registered in the Czech Republic (2.3 percent), Germany and Poland (both 3.4 percent). The highest unemployment rates were observed in Greece (19.0 percent in July 2018) and Spain (14.9 percent). Compared with a year ago, the largest decreases were recorded in Cyprus (7.4 percent from 10.2 percent), Croatia (8.2 percent from 10.5 percent), Greece (19.0 percent from 20.9 percent between July 2018 and July 2017), Portugal (6.6 percent from 8.5 percent) and Spain (14.9 percent from 16.7 percent).
The youth unemployment rate was 14.9 percent in the EU28 and 16.8 percent in the Euro Area, compared with 16.5 percent and 18.3 percent respectively in September 2017. The lowest rates were observed in Germany and the Czech Republic (both 6.3 percent) and the Netherlands (7.5 percent), while the highest were registered in Greece (37.9 percent in July 2018), Spain (34.3 percent) and Italy (31.6 percent).