Compared with April, the number of unemployed in the Euro Area decreased by 125,000 to 13.656 million. Compared with the previous year, it fell by 1.252 million.
Considering the European Union, the unemployment rate stood at 7 percent in May, stable compared to the previous month and down from 7.7 percent a year ago. It was the lowest rate recorded in the EU28 since August 2008. There were 17.207 million people unemployed, a decrease of 154,000 from the previous month and of 1.828 million from May 2017.
Among EU Member States, the lowest unemployment rates in May were recorded in the Czech Republic (2.3 percent) and Germany (3.4 percent). The highest unemployment rates were observed in Greece (20.1 percent in March 2018) and Spain (15.8 percent). Compared with a year ago, the largest decreases were registered in Cyprus (8.4 percent from 11.4 percent), Croatia (8.9 percent from 11.3 percent), Greece (20.1 percent from 22.1 percent between March 2018 and March 2017) and Portugal (7.3 percent from 9.2 percent).
The youth unemployment rate was 15.1 percent in the EU28 and 16.8 percent in the Euro Area, compared with 17.2 percent and 19.3 percent respectively in May 2017. The lowest rates were observed in Malta (4.8 percent), Germany (6.1 percent), Estonia (6.8 percent in April 2018) and the Netherlands (6.9 percent), while the highest were recorded in Greece (43.2 percent in March 2018), Spain (33.8 percent) and Italy (31.9 percent).