Amid the coronavirus pandemic, the Czech Republic boasted the lowest unemployment in the European Union in December, at 3.1 percent, while the Netherlands trailed Poland in third place, with 3.9 percent, according to the Eurostat agency.
Meanwhile, Greece had the highest seasonally-adjusted jobless rate in the EU, at 16.7 percent, according to the latest available data, while Spanish unemployment was the second-highest at 16.2 percent, the agency's data showed.
Eurostat reported that the EU average for December was 7.5 percent, stable compared with November and up from 6.5 percent in December 2019.
Poland’s Central Statistical Office (GUS), which uses a different methodology, reported last week that the Polish jobless rate inched up to 6.2 percent in December, from 6.1 percent in November.
The Polish Prime Minister’s Office has said that some 6 million jobs have been saved throughout the country thanks to measures including a massive relief and stimulus package that aims to shield the economy from the coronavirus.
(gs/pk)
Source: IAR, europa.eu/eurostat