Among the Member States, the lowest unemployment rates were recorded in Austria (4.9 percent), Germany (5.2 percent) and Luxembourg (6.1 percent), and the highest in Greece (26.5 percent in February 2014) and Spain (25.1 percent).
Compared with a year ago, the unemployment rate fell in eighteen Member States, remained stable in two and increased in eight. The largest decreases were registered in Hungary (10.6 percent to 7.8 percent between March 2013 and March 2014), Portugal (17.3 percent to 14.6 percent) and Ireland (13.7 percent to 11.9 percent), and the highest increases in Cyprus (15.6 percent to 16.4 percent) and the Netherlands (6.5 percent to 7.2 percent).
The lowest youth unemployment rates were observed in Germany (7.9 percent), Austria (9.5 percent) and the Netherlands (11.0 percent), and the highest in Greece (56.9 percent in February 2014), Spain (53.5 percent) and Croatia (49.0 percent in the first quarter of 2014).