The unemployment rate in the European Union, euro area and Croatia in September 2021 fell to its lowest level since the spring of 2020 and the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, a Eurostat report showed on Wednesday.

The EU unemployment rate dropped to 6.7 percent in September from the revised 6.9 percent in August, while euro area unemployment slid by 0.1 percentage point to 7.4 percent.

Eurostat estimates that 14.324 million men and women in the EU, of whom 12.079 million in the euro area, were unemployed in September 2021. Compared with August 2021, the number of persons unemployed decreased by 306,000 in the EU and by 255,000 in the euro area. Compared with September 2020, unemployment decreased by 2.054 million in the EU and by 1.919 million in the euro area.

Croatia alongside France and Latvia

Spain and Greece were the only two member states with double-digit unemployment rates, of 14.6 percent and 13.3 percent respectively. The lowest rates were reported by Czechia (2.6 percent), the Netherlands (3.1 percent) and Malta (3.2 percent).

In Croatia, the unemployment rate fell to 7.3 percent from 7.6 percent in August. It was its lowest rate since the start of the coronavirus pandemic in March 2020, when it amounted to 6.5 percent. In pre-pandemic February 2020, it was 5.9 percent.

Croatia was alongside France and Latvia, which recorded unemployment rates of 7.7 percent and 6.8 percent respectively.

According to Eurostat, 131,000 Croatians were out of work in September, about 5,000 fewer than in August. Compared with September 2020, their number decreased by 25,000.

Youth unemployment down

In September 2021, the youth unemployment rate was 15.9% in the EU and 16.0% in the euro area, down from 16.1 percent and 16.3 percent respectively in the previous month.

In September 2021, 2.815 million young persons (under 25) were unemployed in the EU, of whom 2.307 million were in the euro area. Compared with August 2021, youth unemployment decreased by 45,000 in the EU and by 38,000 in the euro area. Compared with September 2020, youth unemployment decreased by 375,000 in the EU and by 348,000 in the euro area.

The highest youth unemployment rates were recorded in Spain (30.6 percent), Italy (29.8 percent) and Sweden (25.1 percent), while the lowest rates were observed in Czechia (6.3 percent), Germany (6.6 percent) and Cyprus (6.8 percent).

Croatia is not required to submit monthly data on youth unemployment. In the third quarter of the year, its youth unemployment rate was 20.1 percent, with 28,000 young people out of work. The number of unemployed young people declined by 7,000 from the previous quarter, but increased by 8,000 compared with the third quarter of 2020, according to Eurostat.