The unemployment rate in the European Union and in Croatia in September remained unchanged compared with August, while decreasing slightly in the euro zone, state news agency Hina said on Thursday, carrying a report published by the EU statistics service Eurostat on their website.

The EU’s seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate was 6.0 percent in September 2022, unchanged from August 2022, and down from 6.7 percent in September 2021. The euro zone’s unemployment rate was 6.6 percent, down from 6.7 percent in August 2022 and down from 7.3 percent in September 2021.

Eurostat estimated that 12.960 million men and women in the EU, including 10.988 million in the euro zone, were jobless in September 2022. Compared to August 2022, the number of jobless people decreased by 52,000 in the EU and by 66,000 in the euro zone. Compared with September 2021, unemployment decreased by 1.304 million in the EU and by 1.071 million in the euro zone.

Spain and Greece were the only two EU countries with double-digit unemployment rates in September, of 12.7 percent and 11.8 percent respectively. In Croatia, the unemployment rate was 6.3 percent in September, unchanged from the previous month. In September 2021, it stood at 7.1 percent.

A total of 114,000 Croatians were unemployed in September, a thousand fewer than in August. Compared with September last year, their number decreased by 15,000. Closest to Croatia’s unemployment rate were Portugal (6.1 percent) and Latvia (6.6 percent). The lowest rates were recorded in the Czech Republic (2.2 percent), Poland (2.6 percent), Malta, and Germany (both 3.0 percent).

In September 2022, 2.747 million young persons (under 25) were unemployed in the EU, including 2.241 million in the euro zone. Youth unemployment rate was 14.6 percent both in the EU and in the euro zone, up from 14.3 percent and 14.4 percent respectively in the previous month.

Compared with August 2022, youth unemployment increased by 48,000 in the EU and by 25,000 in the euro zone. Compared with September 2021, youth unemployment decreased by 79,000 in the EU and by 50,000 in the euro zone.

The highest youth unemployment rates were registered in Spain (32.1 percent), Greece (28.5 percent), Italy (23.7 percent), Cyprus (21.7 percent) and Sweden (20.6 percent). The lowest rates were observed in Germany (5.7 percent), the Czech Republic (8.3 percent), the Netherlands (8.4 percent) and Poland (9.0 percent).

Croatia had a youth unemployment rate of 15.5 percent in the third quarter of 2022, with 23,000 young people out of work, the same as in the second quarter of the year. Compared with the third quarter of 2021, their number fell by 6,000.