EU unemployment falls as COVID measures recede

In this Monday, April 6, 2020 file photo, chairs and tables are piled in front of a bar in St. Mark's Square, in Venice during a lockdown to prevent the spread of COVID-19 - Copyright Andrew Medichini/Copyright 2020 The Associated Press. All rights reserved

By Orlando Crowcroft

Published on 03/03/2022 - 14:03

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While the number of jobless is down on a year earlier, youth unemployment is as high as 30% in Spain and Greece.

Fewer people were out of work in Europe in January 2022 than a year earlier as the European economy begins to rebound from the impact of the COVD-19 pandemic.

The number of unemployed people across the European Union fell from 7.5% in January 2021 to 6.2% in January 2022, with a total of 13.3 million out of work, down 2.5 million.

But 2.5 million people, or 14%, under the age of 25 in the EU were out of work.

The figures, released by Eurostat, vary widely across the EU’s 27 member states. Greece and Spain have the worst unemployment rates, at 13.3% and 12.7%. Just under a third of Spanish and Greek people under 25 are out of work.

The lowest unemployment rates in the EU were the Czech Republic, 2.2%, and Malta, 3.1%.

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