Bulgaria turns out to be one of the EU member states with the most drastic growth of youth unemployment. Eurostat's data for the month of March show that, on an annual basis, unemployed youth in our country under the age of 25 have grown by over 46%. Thus, from 13,000 in March 2023, the figure has already reached 19,000 people, and their share has grown from 9.7 to 16%.
Indicative of the lack of sharp dynamics in most member states is the average youth unemployment rate for the EU. In March 2024, the share of unemployed among young people in the EU was 14.6% against 14% a year earlier. As unemployed, the statistics count all persons who looked for work in the last four weeks and were ready to start immediately or within 2 weeks. The share of unemployed youth is calculated in relation to the employed in this age group.
With a similar sharp jump as Bulgaria is Denmark, where the percentage of unemployed youth rises from 9.1 to 15.8%, Estonia - with growth from 11.6 to 16.2%, Hungary - from 10.4 to 15.7 %. With the lowest share of unemployed youth in March 2024 is Germany - 5.8% against 5.7% a year earlier. The Czech Republic followed with 6.8% and the Netherlands with 8.7% share of unemployed youth.
The total unemployment for March 2024 in the EU is 6%, 6.5% - for the Eurozone. Unemployment in Bulgaria in March this year was 4.4% against 4.2% for the same month in 2023.