Unemployment Rates in the Eurozone: An Overview of May 2021

In May 2021, the unemployment rate in the eurozone was 6.4%, according to the International Labor Organization (ILO) methodology, which is lower than the same month last year by 0.1 percentage points. Eurostat reported that the EU’s unemployment rate remained at six percent in May, which is the same as April and May of the previous year. The number of unemployed individuals in the EU increased by 38 thousand in May compared to April and by 13 thousand on an annual basis.

In Croatia, the unemployment rate was 5.3% in May, down from April by 0.1 percentage point. There were 91 thousand unemployed citizens in Croatia in May, a decrease of 1 thousand from April and 13 thousand from May of the previous year. Romania had an unemployment rate of 5.4% in May, closest to Croatia’s rate.

The Czech Republic and Poland had the lowest unemployment rates among all countries with rates of 2.7% and 3% respectively; other countries with low rates include Malta and Slovenia at 3.2%, Germany and Netherlands at 3.6% and 3.3% respectively. In Germany, youth unemployment rate for individuals under age of twenty-five remained at 6% in May compared to April; while in EU it decreased by a percentage point falling to fourteen percent in May compared to April, which is similar to May of previous year’s rates. In contrast Spain had highest youth unemployment rate at twenty-six percent followed by Sweden at twenty-four percent; Greece and Portugal also recorded high youth unemployment rates at twenty-three point eight percent each; Slovakia recorded a youth unemployment rate of twenty percent while Italy recorded a youth unemployment rate of nineteen percent each respectively