Berlin – Unemployment in the 19-member eurozone stayed nearly unchanged at 8.3 per cent in June, marking the lowest rate since December 2008, according to official figures.

The jobless rate for June was 0.1 percentage points lower than in May, the European statistics agency, Eurostat, reported.

A total of 13.6 million people in the eurozone were jobless in June, Eurostat found, rising to 17.1 million for the entire 28-member European Union.

Lowest rate since 2008

In the EU as a whole, the unemployment rate stood at 6.9 per cent, also a marginal decrease from the May figure of 7 per cent. The June unemployment rate marks the lowest for the EU since May 2008.

Year-on-year, the number of unemployed people throughout the EU decreased by nearly 1.7 million as compared to June 2017.

Youth unemployment in the eurozone was measured at 16.9 per cent, also keeping stable compared to the month before.

The countries with the lowest unemployment rates in June were the Czech Republic at 2.4 per cent and Germany at 3.4 per cent.

Unemployment was the highest in Greece – at 20.2 per cent, according to figures from April, the latest data available – and Spain, at 15.2 per cent.