Among the Member States, the lowest unemployment rates were recorded in Austria (4.9%), Germany (5.2%) and Luxembourg (6.1%), and the highest in Greece (26.5% in February 2014) and Spain (25.1%).
Compared with a year ago, the unemployment rate fell in eighteen Member States, remained stable in two and increased in eight. The largest decreases were registered in Hungary (10.6% to 7.8% between March 2013 and March 2014), Portugal (17.3% to 14.6%) and Ireland (13.7% to 11.9%), and the highest increases in Cyprus (15.6% to 16.4%) and the Netherlands (6.5% to 7.2%).
In April 2014, the unemployment rate in the United States was 6.3%, down from 6.7% in March 2014, and from 7.5% in April 2013.
Youth unemployment
In April 2014, 5.259 million young persons (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 rate5 was 22.5% in the EU28 and 23.5% in the euro area, compared with 23.6% and 23.9% respectively in April 2013. In April 2014, the lowest rates were observed in Germany (7.9%), Austria (9.5%) and the Netherlands (11.0%), and the highest in Greece (56.9% in February 2014), Spain (53.5%) and Croatia (49.0% in the first quarter of 2014).
