ZAGREB, March 1, 2019 – The European Union unemployment rate in January dropped to its lowest level since Eurostat started tracking monthly data, and Croatia’s unemployment rate also decreased slightly and was below the eurozone average for the third consecutive month, according to figures released by the EU’s statistical office Eurostat on Friday.
The EU28 seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 6.5% in January 2019, down from 6.6% in December 2018 and from 7.2% in January 2018, this being the lowest rate since October 2008, Eurostat said.
Eurostat estimates that 16.222 million men and women in the EU28, of whom 12.848 million in the euro area, were unemployed in January 2019. This is a decrease of 56,000 in the EU and 23,000 in the euro area compared with December 2018.
Compared with January 2018, unemployment fell by 1.536 million in the EU28 and by 1.233 million in the euro area.
The unemployment rate in Croatia in January this year was 7.6% or 0.1 percentage points less on the month.
There were 136,000 people out work in Croatia in January, which is 2,000 fewer than in December and a decrease of 35,000 on the year.
In January 2019, the unemployment rate of young persons (under 25) was 14.9% m-on-m in the EU28, Eurostat reported.
The youth unemployment rate in the euro area remained at 16.5%.
In January 2019, 3.375 million young persons were unemployed in the EU28, of whom 2.383 million were in the euro area.
Compared with January 2018, youth unemployment decreased by 184,000 in the EU28 and by 141,000 in the euro area.
Croatia doesn’t keep monthly data on youth unemployment. The average youth unemployment rate increased in the last quarter of 2018 from 22.7% to 23%, Eurostat said.
More news on the unemployment in Croatia can be found in the Business section.
