Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Communities, has announced that in April this year the unemployment rate in the European Union member states (EU-28) was 7.8 percent, down from 7.9 percent in March and declining from 8.7 percent in the same month of 2016. The April figure is the lowest rate recorded in the EU-28 since December 2008. The seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate in the euro area in April was 9.3 percent, down from 9.4 percent in March and decreasing from 10.2 percent in April of the previous year. This remains the lowest rate recorded in the euro area since March 2009.
In April, the unemployment rate in the EU-28 fell in 27 states, on year-on-year basis. Among the EU-28 member states, in April the lowest unemployment rates were recorded in the Czech Republic (3.2%), Germany (3.9%) and Malta (4.1%), and the highest in Greece (23.2% in February 2017) and Spain (17.8%).
Meanwhile, in the given month the unemployment rate in the United States was 4.4 percent, down from 4.5 percent in March and declining from 5.0 percent in April 2016.