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Polish jobless rate second-lowest in EU, at 3.5% in October: Eurostat

02.12.2020 11:15
Unemployment in Poland was a modest 3.5 percent in October, the second-lowest rate in the 27-nation European Union, the bloc’s statistics agency reported on Wednesday.
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Photo:PAP/DPA/Uli Deck

Amid the coronavirus pandemic, the Czech Republic boasted the lowest unemployment in the European Union in October, at 2.9 percent, while Malta trailed Poland in third place, with 3.9 percent, according to the Eurostat agency.

Meanwhile, Greece had the highest seasonally-adjusted jobless rate in the EU, at 16.8 percent, according to the latest available data, while Spanish unemployment was the second-highest at 16.2 percent, the agency's data showed.

Eurostat reported that the EU average for October was 7.6 percent, stable compared with September and up from 6.6 percent in October 2019.

Poland’s Central Statistical Office (GUS), which uses a different methodology, reported last week that the Polish jobless rate stood at 6.1 percent in October, unchanged from the previous four months.

Labour Minister Marlena Maląg said in October that the Polish labour market was stabilizing after a period of lockdown and restrictions affecting the economy amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The Polish Prime Minister’s Office said last week that some 6 million jobs had been saved throughout the country thanks to measures including a massive relief and stimulus package that aims to shield the economy from the coronavirus.

(gs/pk)

Source: IAR, europa.eu/eurostat