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

This is the lowest rate recorded in the euro area since August 2011.

The European Union's unemployment rate remained unchanged at 8.9% in February – the lowest rate recorded since May 2009.

Compared with January, the number of persons unemployed decreased by 59,000 in the European Union and by 39,000 in the euro area.

Compared with February 2015, unemployment fell by 1.971 million in the European Union and by 1.303 million in the euro area.

Compared with a year ago, the unemployment rate in February fell in 24 member states, remained stable in Belgium and increased in Austria, Latvia, and Finland.

The highest unemployment rates were observed in Spain (20.4%), Croatia (15.1%) and Cyprus (12.6%). Unemployment in Greece may be higher than in Spain, but the latest data for Greece are from December 2015 when the country's unemployment rate was 24%.

The lowest unemployment rates in February were recorded in Germany (4.3%), Czech Republic (4.5%) and Malta (5.1%).

Compared to this past January, unemployment in Latvia decreased from 10.3% to 10.1%, while Lithuania's unemployment rate decreased from 9% to 8.8%.

February data for Estonia are not yet available, but in January Estonia's unemployment rate was 6.4%.