Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Communities, has announced that in June this year the unemployment rate in the European Union member states (EU-28) was 7.7 percent, stable compared to May and declining from 8.6 percent in the same month of 2016. The June figure is the lowest rate recorded in the EU-28 since December 2008. The seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate in the euro area in June was 9.1 percent, down from 9.2 percent in May and decreasing from 10.1 percent in June of the previous year. This remains the lowest rate recorded in the euro area since February 2009.
In June, the unemployment rate in the EU-28 fell in all member states except Estonia, on year-on-year basis. Among the EU-28 member states, in June the lowest unemployment rates were recorded in the Czech Republic (2,9%), Germany (3.8%) and Malta (4.1%), and the highest in Greece (21.7% in April 2017) and Spain (17.1%).
Meanwhile, in the given month the unemployment rate in the United States was 4.4 percent, up from 4.3 percent in May and declining from 4.9 percent in June 2016.