EU unemployment rate holds steady for the second month in a row

Press Releases

30 Aug 2013

The latest EU unemployment figures show that the overall rate of unemployment in the Eurozone in July 2013 was 12.1%, stable compared with the figure for the previous four months. The rate for the EU28 was 11.0%, also stable compared with the previous four months. However, despite this recent stability, unemployment rates are still well above the levels recorded a year ago, at 11.5% in the Eurozone and 10.5% in the EU28.

A further sign that the rise of unemployment may be steadying is the fact that the number of people without a job has fallen by 33,000 in the EU28 and by 15,000 in the Eurozone over the past month, following a decrease the month before. In addition, unemployment levels have fallen in 11 EU Member States over the past year.

Andrea Broughton, Principal Research Fellow at the Institute for Employment Studies, commented:

‘Despite the indications of stability, the EU is not out of the woods yet: youth unemployment remains high. However, the Eurozone youth unemployment rate increased only slightly over the past month, from 23.9% to 24.0% in July 2013, while the EU28 youth unemployment rate dropped slightly, from 23.5% to 23.4%. Youth unemployment remains highest in Greece, at 62.9% (May 2013) and Spain, at 56.1%. Croatia, the EU's newest member, also has high youth unemployment, at 55.4% (June 2013).

‘Although the longer-term trends in terms of unemployment cannot yet be assessed, it is certainly encouraging that the rate of unemployment in the EU has been stable for two consecutive months, which will surely give EU policymakers cause for cautious optimism. In the meantime, the EU still has significant labour market issues to contend with, alongside the continuing high youth unemployment there is the wide discrepancy between the labour market performances of individual Member States, essentially along a north/south divide.’

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About IES

The Institute for Employment Studies is the UK’s leading independent, not-for-profit centre for research and evidence-based consultancy on employment, the labour market, and HR policy and practice.

About Andrea Broughton

Andrea joined IES in 2006 and has over 20 years' experience of research and writing in the areas of employment relations and industrial relations, specialising in international comparative research. Specific areas of interest include workplace-level industrial relations, European social dialogue, employee involvement, restructuring and change management, health and wellbeing issues and work-life balance issues.

For interviews or further information, please contact: Lorna Hardy: 01273 763 414 or lorna.hardy@employment-studies.co.uk

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