Unemployment in Europe has grown as a consequence of the economic crisis stemming from the coronarivus epidemic.
According to Eurostat's figures, the unemployment rate in the 19-country eurozone rose again in June to 7.8%, official statistics released on Thursday showed, up 0.1 percentage points from the previous month.
Finland remains below the eurozone average, with 7.3% unemployment in June, calculated according to Eurostat methodology.
For the whole 27-member European Union, the unemployment rate rose to 7.1%, up from 7% in May, statistics agency Eurostat said in a press release.
June was the first month when measures to curb the spread of the new coronavirus began to be lifted in most EU states, Eurostat said.
The May figures were also revised on Thursday to show stronger figures than previously reported. They had previously been at 7.4% for the eurozone and 6.7% in the whole EU.
More than 15 million people are out of work in the EU, according to Eurostat's estimations, 12.7 million of them in the euro area.
Country differences
The eurozone saw a long period of falling unemployment following a peak of more than 12% in 2012, though the number of people out of work differs greatly country to country.
Women and younger people in the labour market are being hit harder, the figures suggest. In the eurozone, 8.3% of women are unemployed. The figure is 17% for those aged under 25.
The agency counts people as unemployed if they are out of work and can start within two weeks and have actively looked for a job in the previous four weeks.
"The Covid-19 confinement measures applied since March 2020 have triggered a sharp increase in the number of claims for unemployment benefits across the EU," the agency added.
