In May this year, the unemployment rate in EU-28 was 8.6%, i.e. 0.1 percentage point less compared to April. This means that the unemployment rate recorded in May has been the lowest since March 2009.

Compared to 2015, the unemployment rate decreased among 26 out of 28 EU countries. The exceptions were only Austria (the rate increased) and Latvia (the level maintained). The unemployment rate in the eurozone countries also records a downward trend – in May, it amounted to 10.1%.

The lowest unemployment rates among the EU countries in May were recorded in the Czech Republic (4.0%), Malta (4.1%) and Germany (4.2%). Traditionally, the highest rate is observed in Greece (24.1%, data for March 2016) and in Spain (19.8%).

The greatest improvement over May 2015 is recorded in Cyprus (decrease from 15.3% to 12.0%), Croatia (from 16.2% to 13.3%) and Bulgaria (from 10% to 7.3%).

Poland was among 10 countries with the lowest unemployment rate of 6.3%. Compared to April this year, the level of deseasonalised unemployment rate in Poland remained unchanged. In turn, compared to May last year, it decreased by 1.2 percentage points (from 7.5%).

According to estimates by the Eurostat, in May this year, the number of unemployed in Poland was slightly over 1 million, that is about 219 thousand less (about 17%) than in May 2015. As in most EU-28 countries, the unemployment rate among women in Poland is slightly higher than among men, but the level of improvement for both sexes is similar.

In May, decrease in unemployment rate among young people (up to the age of 25) in Poland was 17.3% (down from 21% year on year and 0.1 percentage point until April), which means that 248 thousand people actively seeking employment from the youngest age category are still without work. For comparison, the average for the EU-28 countries was 18.6% in May this year (decrease from 20.6% year on year).