Youth unemployment steadily rising

The euro area seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was stable at 8.3 per cent in December 2020, compared to November 2020.

However, the unemployment rate was greater than the 7.4 per cent recorded in December 2019, according to Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union (EU). The EU unemployment rate of 7.5 per cent in December 2020 was also stable compared with November 2020.

The unemployment rate in December 2020 was greater than the 6.5 per cent reported the year before in December 2019. Eurostat estimates that there were approximately 16 million unemployed men and women in the EU, of whom 13.671 million were in the euro area in December 2020.

Additionally, relative to November 2020, the number of persons unemployed rose by 67,000 in the EU and by 55,000 in the euro area. Eurostat reports that, “compared with December 2019, unemployment rose by 1.951 million in the EU and by 1.516 million in the euro area.”

Youth unemployment

In December 2020, the number of unemployed young person’s (under 25 years) amounted to about 3.14 million in the EU of which approximately 2.50 million of them were in the euro area. Compared with the prior year, youth unemployment rose by 438,000 in the EU and increased by 353,000 in the euro area.

According to Eurostat, “in December 2020, the youth unemployment rate was 17.8 per cent in the EU and 18.5 per cent in the euro area, up from 17.5 per cent and 18.1 per cent respectively in the previous month”.

Additionally, compared with November 2020, youth unemployment rose by 41,000 in the EU and by 36,000 in the euro area.

Unemployment by gender

In the euro area, unemployment rate for women was stable at 8.8 per cent in December 2020; similarly in the EU, unemployment rate for women was unchanged at 7.9 per cent in December 2020.

The unemployment rate for men in the EU as at December 2020 was 7.1 per cent, stable compared to the previous month, while, for the euro area, the men’s unemployment rate went up from 7.8 per cent to 7.9 per cent.