Unemployment is decreasing, albeit slowly. In April, the unemployment rate in Europe was 10.4% in the EU and 11.7% in the euro area, with a decrease of 0.1% from April 2014. In absolute values, 25.471 million men and women in the EU28 were unemployed, of whom 18.751 million were in the area of the single currency. Compared with March 2014, the number of persons unemployed decreased by 151,000 in the EU28 and by 76,000 in the euro area. This is the picture emerging from the Eurostat report on unemployment issued earlier today.
In April 2014 the unemployment rate remained stable, from the previous month, in all the main EU economies (France 10.4%, Italy 12.6%, Germany 5,2%), even though in absolute values there are slight drops in Italy (-14,000) and France (-13,000) while unemployed increased in Germany (+5,000). The youth unemployment rate decreased by 0.1% too, both in the EU and in the euro area. In the EU28 there are about 5.200 million under25 persons without a job, of whom about 3.4 were in the euro area. Compared with March 2014, youth unemployment decreased by 480,000 in the EU28. Eurostat has recorded a slight abatement of the phenomenon in all Europe, apart from Italy, the only Member State recoding an upward trend for youth (under25) unemployment: 43.3% in April, increased by 0.4% from March 2014.
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