Romania posts 8th-lowest unemployment rate in EU. See the EU member states where is hardest to find a job

Romania ranked eighth in February among the European Union member states with the lowest unemployment rate, with 4.6 percent of its workforce trying to find a job, according to Eurostat released on Wednesday. Greece, Spain and Italy post the highest jobless rates in EU.

The unemployment rate adjusted seasonally in February reached 4.6 percent, at the same level with January, according to a release of the National Institute of Statistics (INS).

“The EU28 unemployment rate was 7.1 percent in February 2018, down from 7.2 percent in January 2018 and from 8 percent in February 2017. This is the lowest rate recorded in the EU28 since September 2008,” Eurostat said.

Among the EU member states, the lowest unemployment rates were recorded in February in the Czech
Republic (2.4 percent), Germany and Malta (both 3.5 percent) and Hungary (3.7 percent).

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The highest unemployment rates were observed in Greece (20.8 percent in December 2017), Spain (16.1 percent), Italy (10.9 percent), Cyprus and Croatia (both 9.6 percent).

Compared with a year ago, the unemployment rate fell in all EU member states except Estonia, the largest decreases being registered in Cyprus (from 12.6 percent to 9.6 percent), Greece (from 23.4 percent to 20.8 percent) and Croatia (from 12 percent to 9.6 percent), according to Eurostat.

In spite of the declining unemployment rate, the average annual job vacancy rate in Romania was 1.24 percent, slightly decreasing (by 0.04 percent) from 2016.

The average annual number of job vacancies was 60,000 in 2017, only 200 more than in 2016, which confirms the idea that Romania is not experiencing a “workforce crisis” like other countries in the EU, but rather that it has issues related to the quality of the available jobs.