Eurozone unemployment rate lowest since 2008

Unemployment in the eurozone dropped to 7.5% in May, the lowest rate recorded since July 2008, the European statistic agency Eurostat reported Monday.

The data showed the number of jobless in the 19 countries using the euro currency stood at 12.3 million, down by 1.2 million people compared to the same period last year.

Read more: Germany: 1 in 3 unemployed can't afford a proper meal

The unemployment rate for all 28 EU member states was 6.3% in May 2019, down from 6.4% in April 2019 and from 6.9% in May 2018. That is lowest level for the entire bloc since data began to be collected in the eurozone in 2000.

The Czech Republic (2.2%), Germany (3.1%) and the Netherlands (3.3%) had the lowest unemployment rates in the EU.

The highest unemployment rates were observed in Greece (18.1% in March 2019), Spain (13.6%) and Italy (9.9%). 

Read more: A look behind the Czech Republic's job miracle 

Despite persistently high unemployment rates in Greece and Spain, both countries saw their unemployment rates drop by about 2% compared to the same time last year.

The youth unemployment rate in May 2019 remained high at 14.3% in all the EU's 28 states and 15.7% in the smaller eurozone area, compared with 15.1% and 17.0%, respectively in May 2018.

Read more: Labor shortage takes steam out of Eastern Europe

The lowest youth unemployment rates were registered in Germany (5.1%) and the Netherlands (6.3%), while the highest were recorded in Greece (40.4% in March 2019), Spain (31.7%) and Italy (30.5%), all countries where youth were hit particularly hard by the 2007-08 global financial crisis.

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