Eurozone unemployment rate at lowest level since July 2011

The eurozone unemployment rate nudged down in May to its lowest level since July 2011, according to the latest figures from Eurostat.

The unemployment rate came in at 10.1%, down from 10.2% in April and 11% in May 2015, and in line with expectations.

Unemployment in the EU-28 group of countries declined to 8.6% in May from 8.7% the month before and 9.6% in May 2015. This was the lowest rate recorded since March 2009.

Among the member states, the lowest unemployment rates were seen in the Czech Republic, Malta and Germany, at 4%, 4.1% and 4.2%, respectively. Meanwhile, Greece and Spain had the highest rates at 24.1% and 18.8%, respectively.

Claus Vistesen, chief eurozone economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, said: "The steady and most welcome improvement in the EZ labour market continued in May. The fall in unemployment was broad-based across the major economies, with France as the exception, where the rate of joblessness was unchanged.

"On the headline level, Spain remains a key driver of the fall, given that unemployment is falling from a very high level in the country. Unemployment is a lagging indicator in the eurozone, and we think it will continue to decline in the next six-to-nine months and hit sub-10% very soon."