EU unemployment 10.4% in April 2014, 12.8% in Bulgaria – Eurostat
Unemployment in Bulgaria was 12.8 per cent in April 2014, slightly down from 13 per cent in March, according to seasonally-adjusted figures released by EU statistics office Eurostat on June 3.
Earlier, Eurostat figures showed unemployment in Bulgaria at 13.1 per cent in January and February.
In April 2014, unemployment was 10.4 per cent across the 28 member states of the EU, and 11.7 per cent in the euro zone, Eurostat said.
The seasonally-adjusted unemployment figure for the EU in April 2014 was down from 10.5 per cent in March 2014 and from 10.9 per cent in April 2013.
Eurostat estimates that 25.471 million men and women in the EU28, of whom 18.751 million were in the euro area, were unemployed in April 2014.
Compared with March 2014, the number of unemployed decreased by 151 000 in the EU28 and by 76 000 in the euro area.
Compared with April 2013, unemployment fell by 1.167 million in the EU28 and by 487 000 in the euro area.
Among EU countries, the lowest unemployment was in Austria (4.9 per cent), Germany (5.2 per cent) and Luxembourg (6.1 per cent), and the highest in Greece (26.5 per cent in February 2014) and Spain (25.1 per cent).
Compared with a year ago, unemployment rate fell in 18 EU countries, remained stable in two and
increased in eight.
The largest decreases were registered in Hungary (10.6 per cent to 7.8 per cent between March 2013 and March 2014), Portugal (17.3 per cent to 14.6 per cent) and Ireland (13.7 per cent to 11.9 per cent), and the highest increases in Cyprus (15.6 per cent to 16.4 per cent) and the Netherlands (6.5 per cent to 7.2 per cent).
As to youth unemployment, Eurostat said that in April 2014, 5.259 million young people (under 25) were unemployed in the EU28, of whom 3.381 million were in the euro area.
Compared with April 2013, youth unemployment decreased by 415 000 in the EU28 and by
202 000 in the euro area.
In April 2014, the youth unemployment rate was 22.5 per cent in the EU28 and 23.5 per cent in the
euro area, compared with 23.6 per cent and 23.9 per cent respectively in April 2013.
In April 2014, the lowest rates were observed in Germany (7.9 per cent), Austria (9.5 per cent) and the Netherlands (11.0 per cent), and the highest in Greece (56.9 per cent in February 2014), Spain (53.5 per cent) and Croatia (49.0 per cent in the first quarter of 2014).
In Bulgaria, youth unemployment was 27.2 per cent in April 2014, down from 27.7 per cent in March 2014, according to Eurostat.
(Illustration: Sergio Roberto Bichara/sxc.hu)
