Eurozone unemployment rises from record low

(Sharecast News) - The jobless rate across the eurozone unexpectedly inched higher in May, rising from a record-low level, according to data out on Wednesday from Eurostat. Some 10.830m people across the single-currency region were unemployed in May, up 54,000 compared with April.

As a result, the jobless rate crept higher to 6.3% in seasonally adjusted terms, up from 6.2%, surprising economists who had expected no change.

However, the unemployment rate has stayed between 6.2% and 6.3% for the past ten months, compared with the recent peak of 8.6% at the height of the Covid pandemic in the summer of 2020.

Eurostat defines unemployed people as those over the age of 15 who were either without work, available to start work or had actively sought employment during the previous four weeks.

Youth unemployment also increased to 14.4% from 14.3%, with the number of jobless people aged 15 to 24 rising by 13,000 to 2.281m.

Comparing member states, overall unemployment rates were highest in Spain (at 10.8%, though down fro 10.9% the month before) and Estonia (flat at 7.8%), and lowest in Malta (flat at 2.7%) and Slovenia (3.4%, down from 3.6%).