Spain also shows extremely high unemployment figures in May. Spain even recorded double percentages compared to the European average this month. More than 3 million Spaniards are currently out of work at home, of which 440,000 are young people under the age of 25.
In the eurozone, unemployment was 6.6% last month, compared to 13.1% Spain. The 6.6% recorded by the eurozone is the lowest average of all euro area member states since April 1998, according to Eurostat data. The same agency reported that Spain again had the highest unemployment rate of all euro countries.
Unemployment in Europe lowest in 24 years
The unemployment rate of 6.6% in May was 0.8 percentage points below its pre-pandemic level. In February 2020, the average unemployment rate in this area was 7.4%. In the European Union as a whole, the unemployment rate also remained stable at 6.1%. In May, the 27 EU countries combined recorded the lowest unemployment level since the 1998 statistics are kept.
More than 3 million Spaniards without work
The European Statistical Office estimated the number of unemployed in the EU in May 2022 at around 13.07 million people, of whom more than 11 million were in the eurozone. This means a decrease of 73,000 (EU) and 81,000 (eurozone) respectively compared to April 2022. For Spain, this 13.1% means that in absolute numbers 3.046 million people are at home without a job.
What about unemployment in the rest of Europe?
As mentioned, Spain was at the top of all euro countries when it comes to unemployment. Greece occupies a close second place with 12.7% and Italy takes the third position with 8.1%. The lowest unemployment rates were recorded in the Czech Republic (2.5%), Poland (2.7%) and Germany (2.8%).
Also read: Spain has highest unemployment in Europe
Youth unemployment in Spain also extremely high
For young people under the age of 25, unemployment was 13.1% in the eurozone in May, compared to 13.8% in the previous month. In concrete terms, this means that 1.988 million young people in the eurozone are unemployed.
Youth unemployment in Spain is 27.1%, the second highest in the European Union. Only Greece is struggling with a higher youth unemployment rate of no less than 36.8% (April 2022). For Spain, this concerns 440,000 young Spaniards who cannot find paid work.
