Unemployment in the European Union and the euro area has not changed

The euro area unemployment rate remained stable at 8.1 percent in December 2021. Across the European Union (EU), unemployment has stagnated at 7.1 percent. This was announced by the European statistical office Eurostat. Compared to January 2020, unemployment rose from 7.4 percent in the euro area and from 6.6 percent in the European Union.

In the EU, 16.9 percent of young people are unemployed

Eurostat estimates that in January 2021, 15.663 million men and women were out of work in the EU, of which 13.282 million were in the euro area. Compared to December 2020, the number of unemployed increased by 29,000 in the EU and by 8,000 in the region that adopted the euro. Compared to January 2020, there were 1.465 million unemployed across the Union and 1.010 million in the euro area. The number of unemployed young people under the age of 25 reached 2.929 million in the EU as a whole in January 2021, of which 2.366 million in the euro area. The EU youth unemployment rate remained at 16.9 percent in December in January, while it fell slightly to 17.1 percent in the euro area from 17.2 percent in the previous month.

There are more unemployed women

Compared to December 2020, the number of unemployed young people in the EU increased by 3,000 in January and fell by 15,000 in the euro area. Compared to January 2020, the number of unemployed young people increased by 184,000 in the EU and 89,000 in the euro area in the first month of this year. Eurostat also stated that in January 2021, the female unemployment rate in the EU was stable at 7.7 percent in December and the male unemployment rate stagnated at 7 percent. In the euro area as well, the female unemployment rate remained at 8.6 percent in December 2021 and the male unemployment rate at 7.7 percent in January 2021.