Unemployment: Spain continues to lead the EU in March in the general rate, women and young people double the European average

Unemployment in the eurozone fell by one tenth of a percentage point in March compared to February and stood at 6.5% in the third month of 2023, a new record low, according to data published on Wednesday by the EU statistics office, Eurostat. Spain, as has been the case in recent years, continues to lead both in general unemployment rate, 12.8%, and in youth unemployment, 29.5%, compared to a European average of 14.3%, as well as that of women, which at 14% is double the EU average of 7%.

In the European Union (EU) as a whole, the unemployment indicator remained unchanged from February and remained at 6%.

In year-on-year terms, unemployment fell by three tenths of a percentage point in the countries that share the euro between March 2022 and 2023, from 6.8 % to 6.5 %, while in the EU-27 the fall was two tenths of a percentage point, from 6.2 % to 6 %.

As far as Spain is concerned, the unemployment rate between February and March fell by one tenth of a percentage point to 12.8 %. If the year-on-year comparison is made, the fall was four tenths, from 13.2 % in March 2022 to 12.8 % in the third month of the current financial year. That is all that the labour reform of Yolanda Díaz, Minister of Labour, and the two related trade unions UGT and CCOO has achieved. Incidentally, none of the three made any mention of this dramatic figure at the recent Labour Day celebrations. On the contrary, month after month, when the Spanish employment figures come out, they congratulate themselves on how well things are going.

Spain is not only the most unemployed country in the EU, it is twice the European average.

In any case, Spain had the highest unemployment rate in the entire European Union in March this year, followed by Greece (10.9 %) and Italy (7.8 %).

The lowest unemployment rates, in contrast, were found in the Czech Republic (2.6 %), Germany and Poland (2.8 % in both cases) and Malta (2.9 %).

Eurostat estimated that 12.96 million people were out of work in the EU in March, of which 11 million were in the euro area.

Compared with February 2023, unemployment fell by 155,000 in the EU and by 121,000 in the euro area.

Compared with March last year, unemployment fell by 353,000 in the EU and by 365,000 in the euro area.

Youth unemployment in the EU is 14.3%, compared with 29.5% in Spain.

Unemployment among the under 25s fell by one tenth of a percentage point in the euro area between February and March, from 14.4 % to 14.3 %, while in the European Union the fall was two tenths of a percentage point, from 14.5 % to 14.3 %.

In year-on-year terms, youth unemployment rose by one tenth of a percentage point in both the single currency club and the EU-27.

Among the countries for which Eurostat released data today, Spain had the highest unemployment among the under 25s, with a rate of 29.5% in March, down from 29.9% in February, but up from 29.4% in the third month of 2022.

Spain was followed by Greece (24.2 %), Italy (22.3 %) and Sweden (21.9 %).

In March 2023, 2.76 million people under the age of twenty-five were unemployed in the EU, 2.26 million of them in the euro area.

Compared with February, youth unemployment fell by 33,000 in the EU as a whole and by 14,000 in the euro area.

Compared with March 2022, unemployment among the under 25s increased by 105,000 in the European Union and by 91,000 in the euro area.

14% of women are unemployed in Spain, compared with an EU average of 7%.

By sex, unemployment among women in the EU-27 between February and March fell by one tenth of a percentage point to 6.3 %, while among men it also fell by one tenth of a percentage point to 5.6 %.

In the euro club, the indicator among women fell by one tenth of a percentage point to 7 %, while among men it remained unchanged at 6.1 %.

In Spain, the rate for women remained unchanged at 14.7 % and that for men fell by one tenth of a percentage point to 11.1 %.