Over one year, the indicator also decreased by 0.1 point. Despite a context of economic stagnation, it is at its lowest since the European Statistics Office began compiling this series, in April 1998, for countries having adopted the single currency.
For the European Union as a whole, the rate of unemployed people remained at 6% in April, stable over one month and over a year.
The job market has held up well to the gloomy economic situation that has prevailed in Europe since the end of 2022. Growth is suffering from the increase in interest rates decided by the European Central Bank (ECB) to calm inflation which has increased. soared in the wake of the war in Ukraine.
Unemployment had fallen significantly in Europe after mid-2021, thanks to the very strong economic recovery which followed the historic recession caused by the covid-19 epidemic in 2020. The indicator has stabilized since spring 2023 at a level not seen in a quarter of a century.
7.3% in France
Some 13.15 million men and women were unemployed in April in the 27 EU member states, including 11 million among the twenty countries sharing the single currency.
The unemployment rate stands at 7.3% in France, compared to 3.2% in Germany, according to harmonized Eurostat data.
The lowest rates in the EU were recorded in the Czech Republic (2.7%) and Poland (3%).
The highest were recorded in Spain (11.7%) and Greece (10.8%).
Eurostat data is based on the International Labor Office (ILO) definition of unemployment. Unemployed people are those who have actively looked for work in the previous four weeks and are available to start work in the next two weeks.
