Unemployment in the eurozone stood at 6.3% in December last year, up from an all-time low of 6.2% a month earlier, the European Union’s statistics office said.
Analysts also expected 6.3%, according to Trading Economics. The November level was revised from 6.3%. For comparison, in December 2023, unemployment was 6.5%.
In December, the number of unemployed in the region increased by 96 thousand compared to the previous month to a three-month high of 10.83 million.
Among young people (population under 25), the share of unemployed fell to 14.8% from 14.9%.
The lowest unemployment rate among the largest eurozone countries was recorded in Germany (3.4%, the same as a month earlier), and the highest in Spain (10.6% vs. 10.7% in November). In France, unemployment rose by 0.1 percentage points to 7.8% in December, and in Italy it increased by 0.3 percentage points to 6.2%.
Overall, the unemployment rate in the European Union was 5.9% last month, up from 5.8% in November. In December 2023, it was 6%.
