Analytics, Employment, EU – Baltic States, Labour-market

This is the lowest unemployment level since September of 2011.

In the European Union, the unemployment rate was at 9%, which is the lowest level since June of 2009.

According to Eurostat data, there were 21.944 million unemployed in the EU in December, including 16.750 million in the eurozone.

Compared to November, the number of unemployed persons in the EU decreased by 52,000 in December, and in the euro area – by 49,000 persons.

Compared to December 2014, the number of unemployed persons decreased by 2.026 million in the EU and by 1.501 million in the euro area.

As compared to December 2014, unemployment rate decreased in 23 EU member states, increased in four and remained unchanged in Estonia.

The highest rates were recorded in Spain – 20.8%, Croatia – 16.5%, and Cyprus – 15.7%. Unemployment in Greece was higher than in Spain, 24.5%, but the latest data available from Greece are for the month of October, not December.

On the other hand, the lowest unemployment rates were registered in Germany – 4.5%, Czech Republic – 4.5%, and Malta – 5.1%.

Unemployment in Latvia was 10.2% in December, and in Lithuania – 8.5%.

Lithuania's jobless rate fell by 1.5 percentage points year-on-year, but edged up by 0.1 points month-on-month. There were 125,000 registered unemployed persons in the country in late December.

The country's youth unemployment eased to 14.3% in December, down by 4.1 points year-on-year and down by 0.6%age points month-on-month. The rate was lower than the EU's average rate of 19.7% and the euro area's average rate of 22%.

Data for Estonia are not yet available, but in November 2015 unemployment in Estonia was at 6.5%.