Unemployment in the European Union and the euro area was stable in June 2023 for the third month in a row, while increasing slightly in Croatia, according to the figures released by the EU's statistical office Eurostat on Tuesday.

Unemployment remained at 6.4% in the 20-member euro area and stood at 5.9% in the EU27, the same as in April and May 2023. Compared with June 2022, unemployment declined by 0.3 percentage points in the euro area and by 0.2 percentage points in the EU.

Eurostat estimates that 12.8 million persons in the EU, of whom 10.81 million in the euro area, were unemployed in June 2023. Compared with May 2023, unemployment decreased by 2,000 in the EU and by 62,000 in the euro area. Compared with June 2022, unemployment fell by 387,000 in the EU and by 441,000 in the euro area.

Croatia slightly above average

Spain and Greece remained the only two member states with double-digit unemployment rates in June, of 11.7% and 11.1% respectively.

In Croatia, unemployment in June 2023 was 6.8%, 0.2 percentage points higher than in the previous three months. In June 2022, it stood at 6.9%.

According to Eurostat, 122,000 Croatians were out of work in June 2023, 4,000 more than in May. Compared with June 2022, their number decreased by 4,000.

Closest to Croatia was Estonia, with a rate of 6.6%.

The lowest unemployment rates were recorded in Malta (2.6%), the Czech Republic (2.7%), Poland (2.7%) and Germany (3.0%).

Youth unemployment

In June 2023, nearly 2.7 million young persons (under 25) were unemployed in the EU, of whom over 2.2 million were in the euro area.

In June 2023, the youth unemployment rate was 13.8% in the euro area, down from 14.0% in May 2023, and 14.1% in the EU, up from 14.0% in May 2023.

Compared with June 2022, youth unemployment decreased by 0.9 percentage points in the euro area and by 0.4 percentage points in the EU.

The lowest youth unemployment rates were recorded in Slovenia (5.6%), Germany (6.1%), Ireland (7.4%) and the Netherlands (8.3%), while the highest rate was observed in Spain (27.4%). Greece, Sweden and Italy also reported rates of above 20%.

Croatia, along with Belgium, Cyprus, Romania and Slovenia, is not required to submit monthly data on youth unemployment.

In the second quarter of 2023, Croatia registered a youth unemployment rate of 19.0%, with 25,000 young people out of work.