Unemployment in the Czech Republic continues to decline. In June, the unemployment rate broke the 5% threshold and decreased to 4.9% (262 thousand people). With the exception of Germany, where the unemployment rate was 4.7% in June, it reached the lowest level in the European Union. The highest unemployment rates, on the other hand, were noted in Greece (25.6%) and Spain (22.5%). These figures were published by the European statistical office Eurostat.
Overall, there were 9.6% unemployment in EU28 and 11.1% in the euro area, i.e 23.3 million (EU28) and 17.8 million (EA19) Europeans. In comparison with May 2015, the number decreased by 32,000 unemployed people.
In the annual comparison (with June 2014), the unemployment rate fell in 22 states of the European Union, rose in five states and remained stable in two states (France and Cyprus).
The largest declines occurred in Lithuania (from 10.9% to 8.5%), Spain (from 24.5% to 22.5%) and Portugal (from 14.3% to 12.4%). The biggest increases were recorded in Belgium (from 8.4% to 8.6%), Romania (from 6.8% to 7.0%), Italy (12, 4% to 12.7%), Austria (out of 5 , 7% to 6.0%) and Finland (from 8.6% to 9.5%).
Unemployment in the Czech Republic
| Unemployment rate (%) | The number of unemployed (thous.) | ||||||||
| Jun 2014 | Mar 2015 | Apr 2015 | May 2015 | Jun 2015 | Jun 2014 | Mar 2015 | Apr 2015 | May 2015 | Jun 2015 |
| 6.1 | 5.6 | 5.3 | 5.0 | 4.9 | 323 | 299 | 282 | 268 | 262 |
In the age group under 25 years, the unemployment rate in the Czech Republic was 12.7% (EU28 average was 20.7%).
Unemployment rates of men and women in the Czech Republic
| Men (%) | Women (%) | ||||||||
| Jun 2014 | Mar 2015 | Apr 2015 | May 2015 | Jun 2015 | Jun 2014 | Mar 2015 | Apr 2015 | May 2015 | Jun 2015 |
| 5.0 | 4.8 | 4.4 | 4.2 | 4.1 | 7.5 | 6.6 | 6.4 | 6.1 | 6.0 |
Overall the entire EU28, 9.5% of men and 9.8% of women are unemployed.
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