In July 2022, unemployment in the EU and the euro zone decreased. In Croatia, though, unemployment increased to come close to the euro zone average, state agency Hina said on Thursday citing publicly available data released by Eurostat.

In July 2022, the euro zone’s seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate was 6.6 percent, down from 6.7 percent in June 2022 and from 7.7 percent in July 2021. The EU unemployment rate was 6 percent, down from 6.1 percent in June 2022 and from 6.9 percent in July 2021.

Eurostat estimates that 12.959 million men and women in the EU, of whom 10.983 million in the euro zone, were unemployed in July 2022. Compared with June, the number of persons unemployed decreased by 113,000 in the EU and by 77,000 in the euro zone.

Compared with July 2021, unemployment decreased by 1.854 million in the EU and by 1.576 million in the euro zone. Spain and Greece were the only two member states with double-digit unemployment rates, 12.6 percent and 11.4 percent, respectively.

Croatia’s unemployment was 6.4 percent, up by 0.1 percentage points from June. In July 2021, it was 7.5 percent. Eurostat estimates that 116,000 persons in Croatia were jobless in July 2022, 1,000 more than the month before but 20,000 less than in July 2021. Closest to Croatia was Latvia with a 6.5 percent July 2022 unemployment rate.

The lowest rates were recorded in the Czech Republic (2.3 percent), Poland (2.6 percent), and Germany and Malta (2.9 percent each).

In July 2022, 2.630 million persons under 25 were unemployed in the EU, of whom 2.173 million were in the euro zone. The youth unemployment rate was 14.0 percent in the EU and 14.2 percent in the euro zone, down from 14.2 percent and 14.4 percent, respectively.

Compared with June 2022, youth unemployment decreased by 55,000 in the EU and by 35,000 in the euro area. Compared with July 2021, youth unemployment decreased by 329,000 in the EU and by 244,000 in the euro zone.

Greece and Spain had the highest youth unemployment rates this past July, 28.6 percent and 26.9 percent respectively, followed by Estonia (24 percent) and Italy (24.5 percent). The lowest rates was recorded by Germany (5.6 percent), followed by the Czech Republic (6.3 percent).

Croatia’s unemployment rate in Q2 was 15.6 percent, with 23,000 jobless under 25, down from 15.9 percent in Q1.