Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Communities, has announced that in May this year the unemployment rate in the European Union member states (EU-28) was 8.6 percent, decreasing compared to 8.7 percent in April and declining from 9.6 percent in the same month of 2015. This is the lowest rate recorded in the EU-28 since March 2009. The seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate in the euro area in May was 10.1 percent, declining from 10.2 percent recorded in April and down from 11 percent in May last year. This is the lowest rate recorded in the euro area since July 2011.
In May this year, the unemployment rate in the EU-28 fell in 26 states and remained stable in Latvia and increased in Austria, on year-on-year basis. Among the EU-28 member states, in May the lowest unemployment rates were recorded in the Czech Republic (4.0%), Malta (4.1%) and Germany (4.2%), and the highest in Greece (24.1% in March 2016) and Spain (19.8%).
Meanwhile, in the given month the unemployment rate in the United States was 4.7 percent, down from 5.0 percent in April and declining from 5.5 percent in May last year.