OREANDA-NEWS. More than 60% of the NUTS 2 regions of the European Union (EU) recorded a decrease of at least 0.5 percentage points in their regional unemployment rate in 2015 compared with 2014. However, regional unemployment rates continued to vary widely across the EU regions, with the lowest rates recorded in the German regions of Freiburg and Niederbayern (both 2.5%), Oberbayern and Oberpfalz (both 2.7%), followed by Praha in the Czech Republic (2.8%). At the opposite end of the scale, the highest unemployment rates were registered in Melilla (34.0%) and Andalucía (31.5%) in Spain, Dytiki Makedonia (30.7%) in Greece, Canarias and Extremadura (both 29.1%) in Spain.

These data on regional unemployment, compiled on the basis of the EU Labour Force Survey, are published by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union. A dedicated article is also available on the Eurostat website.

Sixty EU regions with an unemployment rate half or less of the EU average

Among the 274 EU regions for which data are available, 60 had an unemployment rate of 4.7% or less in 2015, half the average of the EU (9.4%). They included twenty-four regions in Germany, twenty-one in the United Kingdom, five in Austria, three in the Czech Republic, two each in Belgium, Hungary and Romania and one in Italy. In contrast, 29 regions had a rate of at least 18.8%, double that of the EU: eleven regions in Greece, ten in Spain and four each in France (all overseas departments) and Italy.

Youth unemployment rates varied from less than 4% in Oberbayern to almost 80% in Ceuta

In 2015, the average unemployment rate for young people aged between 15 and 24 in the EU was 20.4%. Regional differences in the unemployment rate for young people are however very marked. The lowest rates were recorded in German regions, in particular Oberbayern (3.4%), Freiburg (4.7%), Mittelfranken (5.2%), WeserEms (5.7%) and Karlsruhe (5.8%), and the highest in Ceuta (79.2%) and Melilla (72.0%) in Spain. In more than three-quarters of the EU regions, the unemployment rate for young people was at least twice that of total unemployment.

In around 30% of regions, the majority of the unemployed had been out of work for at least a year

The long-term unemployment share, which is defined as the percentage of unemployed persons who have been unemployed for 12 months or more, stood at 48.3% on average in the EU in 2015. In the EU regions, the lowest shares of long-term unemployed were recorded in Bucuresti - Ilfov (13.9%) in Romania and Hampshire & Isle of Wight in the United Kingdom (15.0%), followed by six Swedish regions. On the other hand, more than threequarters of the unemployed had been out of work for at least a year in four Greek regions: Peloponnisos (77.1%), Attiki (76.7%), Sterea Ellada (76.4%) and Dytiki Ellada (76.3%).