The Greek unemployment rate eased to 20.6 pct of the workforce in January 2018, from 20.8 pct in December 2017, Eurostat said on Wednesday.
The EU executive’s statistics agency, in a report released here, said that Greece and Cyprus recorded the biggest decline in the unemployment rate in January compared with the previous year.
The number of unemployed people in Greece was 977,000 in January, with unemployment rates among men at 16.7 pct and among women at 25.6 pct. The unemployment rate among young people (aged below 25 years olrd) fell to 42.3 pct in January, from 43.3 pct in December 2017 and 45.3 pct in March 2017.
In the Eurozone, the unemployment was 8.5 pct in March, unchanged from February, the lowest rate since December 2008. In the EU, the unemployment rate was 7.1 pct in March, also unchanged from February and the lowest level since September 2008. The unemployment rates were 9.4 pct in the Eurozone and 7.9 pct in the EU in March 2017.
The number of unemployed people in March was 17.5 million in the EU and 13.8 million in the Eurozone.
Greece (20.6 pct in January) and Spain (16.1 pct in March) recorded the highest unemployment rates in the EU, while Czech Republic (2.2 pct), Malta (3.3 pct) and Germany (3.4 pct) the lowest rates.
Greece and Cyprus recorded the biggest annual declines in unemployment rates in the EU (23.2 pct to 20.6 pct and 12.3 pct to 9.1 pct, respectively.
Greece, Spain and Italy recorded the highest unemployment rates among young people in the EU (42.3 pct, 35 pct and 31.7 pct, respectively), while Germany (6.1 pct) and Czech Republic (6.8 pct) the lowest rates.
