RIGA — Latvia has the highest unemployment rate in the EU, Eurostat reported using first quarter results.

From being the country with the lowest unemployment rates in the bloc in 2007, the country has seen the crisis ravage it, leaving it with a nationalized bank, diminished exports and very weak domestic demand.

The average seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate in Latvia in April was 22.5 percent, making it the highest unemployment rate in the EU for the eighth month running.

The unemployment rate over the last year has risen in nearly all EU member states but the greatest rises were in Estonia, from 11 to 19 percent; Latvia, from 15.4 to 22.5 percent; and Lithuania, from 11.2 to 17.4 percent.

Meanwhile in Lithuania, the country’s unemployment agency, the Labor Exchange has reported a positive change in unemployment figures, signaling a stabilization.

Now, 15.05 percent of the working-age population of the country are registered with the Labor Exchange, 0.04 percent less than the month before.

The male unemployment rate in May fell by 0.2 percent — from 17.5 to 17.3 percent. A 0.3 percent decline in the youth unemployment rate — from 9.7 to 9.4 percent, was also seen.

“For the first time since 2008 in October, the unemployment rate in the country declined. During the month of May 25,000 people gained unemployed status, 20,000 less than in April,” Labor Exchange director Mindaugas Petras Balašaitis said.

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