March 2018 unemployment rate in the European Union was at its lowest level in more than nine years, with Croatia among EU member states with the biggest unemployment rate drops, according to data released by Eurostat on Thursday.

The EU28 seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 7.1 percent in March 2018, unchanged from February, and down from 7.9 percent in the same period the year before. This is the lowest rate in the EU28 since September 2008.

In absolute numbers, Eurostat estimates that there were 17.48 million unemployed people in the EU28 in March 2018. Compared with February, the total number fell by 94,000, and with March 2017, it fell by 1.930 million.

By EU member states, the lowest unemployment rates in March 2018 were recorded in the Czech Republic (2.2 percent), Malta (3.3 percent) and Germany (3.4 percent). On the other hand, the highest rates were observed in Greece (20.6 percent according to latest data from January 2018) and Spain (16.1 percent).

In Croatia, the unemployment rate was 9.4 percent in March 2018, or down by 0.2 percentage points from February, and down from 11.8 percent in March 2017. There were 169,000 jobless Croatians in March 2018, or 4,000 fewer compared to the previous month, and 45,000 fewer compared to the same period the year before.

Year-on-year, unemployment rates fell in all member states except in Lithuania, where it remained unchanged, and in Estonia, where it increased from 5.3 percent to 6.5 percent between February 2017 and February 2018.

The largest year-on-year drops were registered in Cyprus (from 12.3 percent to 9.1 percent), Greece (from 23.2 percent to 20.6 percent between January 2017 and January 2018), Croatia (from 11.8 percent to 9.4 percent) and Portugal (from 9.7 percent to 7.4 percent).

In March 2018, the youth unemployment rate was 15.6 percent in the EU28, inching down from 15.7 percent in February, and from 17.3 percent in March 2017. Some 3.5 million young persons, under the age of 25, were unemployed in the EU in March, down by 409,000 from March 2017.

The lowest youth unemployment rates were observed in Germany (6.1 percent), the Czech Republic (6.8 percent) and the Netherlands (7.0 percent), while the highest were recorded in Greece (42.3 percent in January 2018), Spain (35.0 percent) and Italy (31.7 percent).

In Croatia, youth unemployment rate in March 2018 remained unchanged from February, at 23.3 percent, down by 5.5 percentage points year-on-year. There were 36,000 jobless Croatians under 25 years of age in March 2018, down by 13,000 compared to March 2017.

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