Euro Area Unemployment Rate Flat At 9.9%; Spain Highest At 21%

The euro area (EA17) seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate was 9.9% in June 2011, unchanged compared with May. It was 10.2% in June 2010. The EU271 unemployment rate was 9.4% in June 2011, unchanged compared with May. It was 9.7% in June 2010.

Eurostat estimates that 22.473 million men and women in the EU27, of whom 15.640 million were in the euro area, were unemployed in June 2011. Compared with May 2011, the number of persons unemployed fell by 38 000 in the EU27 but increased by 18 000 in the euro area. Compared with June 20105, unemployment decreased by 706 000 in the EU27 and by 346 000 in the euro area.

These figures were published by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.

Among the Member States, the lowest unemployment rates were recorded in Austria (4.0%), the Netherlands (4.1%) and Luxembourg (4.5%), and the highest in Spain (21.0%), Lithuania (16.3% in the first quarter of 2011) and Latvia (16.2% in the first quarter of 2011).

Compared with a year ago, the unemployment rate fell in nineteen Member States, increased in seven and remained stable in Luxembourg. The largest falls were observed in Estonia (18.8% to 13.8% between the first quarters of 2010 and 2011), Latvia (19.9% to 16.2% between the first quarters of 2010 and 2011) and Hungary (11.3% to 9.9%).

The highest increases were registered in Greece (11.0% to 15.0% between the first quarters of 2010 and 2011), Bulgaria (10.1% to 11.4%), Cyprus (6.5% to 7.6%) and Slovenia (7.3% to 8.4%).
Between June 2010 and June 2011, the unemployment rate for males fell from 10.0% to 9.6% in the euro area and from 9.7% to 9.2% in the EU27. The female unemployment rate was unchanged at 10.3% in the euro area and decreased from 9.6% to 9.5% in the EU27.

In June 2011, the youth unemployment rate (under-25s) was 20.3% in the euro area and 20.5% in the EU27. In June 2010 it was 20.9% and 21.0% respectively.

The lowest rates were observed in the Netherlands (7.1%), Austria (8.2%) and Germany (9.1%) and the highest in Spain (45.7%), Greece (38.5% in the first quarter of 2011), Slovakia (33.3%) and Lithuania (32.6% in the first quarter of 2011).

In June 2011, the unemployment rate was 9.2% in the USA. In May 2011, it was 4.5% in Japan.