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 6.6 percent, remaining stable from November and declining from 7.2 percent in the same month of 2017. The December figure is the lowest rate recorded in the EU-28 since January 2000.
The seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate in the euro area in December was 7.9 percent, remaining unchanged from November and down from 8.6 percent in December 2017. This remains the lowest rate recorded in the euro area since October 2008.
In December, the unemployment rate in the EU-28 fell in all member states except France, on year-on-year basis. Among the EU-28 member states, in December the lowest unemployment rates were recorded in the Czech Republic (2.1%), Germany (3.3%), Poland (3.5%) and the Netherlands (3.6%), while the highest rates were observed in Greece (18.6% in September 2018), Spain (14.3%) and Italy (10.3%).
In December 2018, the unemployment rate in the United States was 3.9 percent, up from 3.7 percent in November 2018 and down from 4.1 percent in December 2017.