Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Communities, has announced that in March this year the unemployment rate in the European Union member states (EU-28) was 8.8 percent, decreasing compared to 8.9 percent in February and declining from 9.7 percent in the same month of 2015. This is the lowest rate recorded in the EU-28 since April 2009. The seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate in the euro area in March was 10.2 percent, down from 10.4 percent in February and from 11.2 percent in March last year.
In March this year, the unemployment rate in the EU-28 fell in 25 states and increased in three states, on year-on-year basis. Among the EU-28 member states, in March the lowest unemployment rates were recorded in the Czech Republic (4.1%) and Germany (4.2%); and the highest in Greece (24.4% in January 2016) and Spain (20.4%).
Meanwhile, in the given month the unemployment rate in the United States was 5.0 percent, up from 4.9 in February and declining from 5.5 percent in March last year.