5 million youngsters were unemployed in the EU in the first quarter of the year

Unemployment rates among youngsters in the EU was 18.3% in the first quarter of the year, which equals some 5 million people aged 15 to 24 who did not have a job, Eurostat informs. Unemployment rates started to increase, especially among young people, in the first quarter of 2009.

The highest unemployment rates were registered in Spain with 33.6%, Latvia with 28.2% and Italy with 24.9%. In Romania, unemployment among youngsters was 19.6%.