A report released by the Eurostat showed that in December, the unemployment rate was 6.4%, confirming economists' forecasts and unchanged from November. A year earlier, the unemployment rate was at 6.7%. Meanwhile, the EU unemployment rate was 5.9%, also stable compared to November and down from 6.1% in December 2022. Among the largest eurozone economies, the highest jobless rates were recorded in Spain (11.7%), France (7.3%) and Italy (7.2%). In contrast, Germany boasted the lowest rate at 3.1%.
Eurostat reported that in December, the number of unemployed persons in the eurozone decreased by 17,000 compared to November and by 369,000 in annual terms, to 10.909 million. As for the EU countries, the number of unemployed amounted to 12.936 million (-299,000 compared to December 2022).
The data also showed that youth unemployment (under 25) in the eurozone increased by 84,000 compared to December 2022, reaching 2.325 million. In the EU, youth unemployment increased by 102,000, to 2.863 million. Meanwhile, the youth unemployment rate in the eurozone fell to 14.4% from 14.5% in November. In the EU, the youth unemployment rate rose by 0.2% to 14.7%.
Eurostat also reported that in the EU, the unemployment rate among women remained unchanged in December (6.2%), while the unemployment rate among men was 5.7%, as in November. In the eurozone, the unemployment rate for women was 6.8% and the unemployment rate for men was 6.1%, both stable compared with November.