According to the data published by Eurostat, the rate of unemployment in Greece in the highest amongst the EU members, with the overall rate in December 2013 being 27.5%, slightly reduced from the 27.6% rate in November.
Unemployment in Greece affects about 31.6% of women, compared to just 24.5% of men, however the rate of youth unemployment (58.3% or 169,000) is perhaps more worrying.
After Greece, the highest rates of unemployment were in Spain (25.6% according to February’s data), while the lowest rates were documented in Austria (4.8%), Germany (5.1%) and Luxemburg (6.1%).
The greatest increase in unemployment over a period of 12 months were documented in Cyprus (from 14.7% to 16.7%), Greece (26.3% to 27.5%) and Italy (11.8% to 13%). The greatest reduction of unemployment over the same period took place in Hungary, dropping from 11.2% to 8.3%.
Overall, the rate of unemployment grew in 11 EU members, dropped in 15 and remained that same in Romania and Sweden. Regarding the Eurozone, the rate of unemployment remained the same at 11.9%, while in the EU the rate receded slightly from 10.7% in January to 10.6% in February.
In total there were 25.920 million unemployed in Europe, of whom 18.965 million are based in Eurozone countries. Overall, there were 166,000 less unemployed in Europe in the last year.
