Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Communities, has announced that in December last year the unemployment rate in the European Union member states (EU-28) was 8.2 percent, stable from November and declining from nine percent in the same month of 2015. This is the lowest rate recorded in the EU-28 since February 2009. The seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate in the euro area in December was 9.6 percent, down from 9.7 percent in November and decreasing from 10.5 percent in December of the previous year. This is the lowest rate recorded in the euro area since May 2009.
In December last year, the unemployment rate in the EU-28 fell in 24 states, on year-on-year basis. Among the EU-28 member states, in December the lowest unemployment rates were recorded in the Czech Republic (3.5%) and Germany (3.9%), and the highest in Greece (23.0% in October 2016) and Spain (18.4%).
Meanwhile, in the given month the unemployment rate in the United States was 4.7 percent, up from 4.6 percent in November and declining from five percent in December 2015.