According to seasonally adjusted data, the unemployment rate in the European Union fell to 6.7 percent in September from 6.9 percent in August, according to the Eurostat statistical office. Of all EU countries, the lowest unemployment rate of 2.6 percent was in the Czech Republic. In the Eurozone countries, it fell to 7.4 percent from 7.5 percent in the previous month.
Eurostat estimates that 14.32 million people were unemployed across the EU in September, of which 12.07 million were in the Euro Area. Compared to August, the number of unemployed in the EU decreased by 306,000 and in the Euro Area by 255,000. Compared to September 2020, 2.05 million fewer people are out of work in the EU, while the number of unemployed in the Euro Area decreased by 1.91 million year-on-year.
Unemployment among young people under the age of 25 remains high. However, in the EU, the unemployment rate in this age group fell to 15.9 percent from 16.1 percent in August, and in the Euro Area to 16 percent from 16.3 percent. In concrete numbers, this means that 2.81 million young people were out of work in the EU in September and 2.30 million in the Euro Area.
Eurostat’s calculations are based on the generally used standard definition of unemployment by the International Labor Organization (ILO). Based on this definition, unemployed are those who have been actively looking for work in the last four weeks and can start working in the next two weeks. In the case of the Czech Republic, Eurostat uses data from the Czech Statistical Office (ČSÚ).
