Eurozone unemployment falls to record low

New data shows the seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate dropping to 6.4% in April, down from 6.5% in March

Ireland's most recent Labour Force Survey from the CSO shows the employment rate for persons aged 15-64 years was 73.8% in the first quarter of this year.

Unemployment across the euro area has fallen to a record low of 6.4%, highlighting the continued strong labour market despite a series of interest rate hikes in recent years.

New data from EU's statistics body Eurostat shows the seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate dropping to 6.4% in April, down from 6.5% in March 2024. The unadjusted rate stood at 6% in April 2024, stable compared to March 2024 and to April 2023.

Eurostat estimates 13.149 million persons in the EU, of whom 10.998 million were in the euro area, were unemployed in April 2024. Compared with April 2023, unemployment increased by 95,000 in the EU and decreased by 101,000 in the euro area.

The youth unemployment rate was 14.4% in the EU, down from 14.7% in March 2024, and 14.1% in the euro area, down from 14.3% in the previous month.

Overall unemployment was highest in Spain (at 11.7%) and Greece (10.8%) in April, and lowest in Czechia (2.7%) and Poland (3%). Ireland's unemployment rate for April stood at 4.4%.

At its peak, during the eurozone crisis in 2013, eurozone unemployment rose over 12% but then fell steadily — before a brief spike in the covid pandemic.

The data suggests the higher interest rates imposed by the European Central Bank (ECB) to fight inflation is not hurting the labour market.

Two years of rate increases will come to an end next week when the ECB meets, with widespread expectation interest rates will be cut.

Ireland's most recent Labour Force Survey from the CSO shows the employment rate for persons aged 15-64 years was 73.8% in the first quarter of this year.

The number of people in employment increased by 51,500, or 1.9%, to 2.7 million in the past year.

The CSO said there were 28,800 people in long-term unemployment (unemployed for 12 months or longer). This was a decrease of 3,400 people from the same period a year previously.