July 2011 Euro area unemployment rate at 10.0% EU27 at 9.5%

STAT/11/124

31 August 2011

July 2011
Euro area unemployment rate at 10.0%
EU27 at 9.5%

The euro area1 (EA17) seasonally-adjusted2 unemployment rate3 was 10.0% in July 2011, unchanged compared with June4. It was 10.2% in July 2010. The EU271 unemployment rate was 9.5% in July 2011, unchanged compared with June4. It was 9.7% in July 2010.

Eurostat estimates that 22.711 million men and women in the EU27, of whom 15.757 million were in the euro area, were unemployed in July 2011. Compared with June 2011, the number of persons unemployed increased by 18 000 in the EU27 and by 61 000 in the euro area. Compared with July 2010, unemployment decreased by 451 000 in the EU27 and by 247 000 in the euro area.

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

Among the Member States, the lowest unemployment rates were recorded in Austria (3.7%), the Netherlands (4.3%) and Luxembourg (4.6%), and the highest in Spain (21.2%), Latvia (16.2% in the first quarter of 2011) and Lithuania (15.6% in the second quarter of 2011).

Compared with a year ago, the unemployment rate fell in sixteen Member States and increased in eleven. The largest falls were observed in Estonia (17.9% to 12.8% between the second quarters of 2010 and 2011), Latvia (19.9% to 16.2% between the first quarters of 2010 and 2011) and Lithuania (18.2% to 15.6% between the second quarters of 2010 and 2011). The highest increases were registered in Greece (11.0% to 15.0% between the first quarters of 2010 and 2011), Bulgaria (10.0% to 11.5%) and Slovenia (7.2% to 8.4%).

Between July 2010 and July 2011, the unemployment rate for males fell from 10.0% to 9.6% in the euro area and from 9.6% to 9.3% in the EU27. The female unemployment rate remained unchanged at 10.4% in the euro area and at 9.7% in the EU27.

In July 2011, 5.115 million young persons (under-25s) were unemployed in the EU27, of which 3.143 million in the euro area. Compared with July 2010, youth unemployment decreased by 173 000 in the EU27 and by 111 000 in the euro area. In July 2011, the youth unemployment rate was 20.7% in the EU27 and 20.5% in the euro area. In July 2010 it was 20.9% in both zones. The lowest rates were observed in the Netherlands (7.5%), Austria (7.8%) and Germany (9.5%), and the highest in Spain (46.2%), Greece (38.5% in the first quarter of 2011), Lithuania (33.1% in the second quarter of 2011) and Slovakia (32.9%).

In July 2011, the unemployment rate was 9.1% in the USA. In June 2011, it was 4.6% in Japan.

• The euro area (EA17) consists of Belgium, Germany, Estonia, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Italy, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Austria, Portugal, Slovenia, Slovakia and Finland.

The EU27 includes Belgium (BE), Bulgaria (BG), the Czech Republic (CZ), Denmark (DK), Germany (DE), Estonia (EE), Ireland (IE), Greece (EL), Spain (ES), France (FR), Italy (IT), Cyprus (CY), Latvia (LV), Lithuania (LT), Luxembourg (LU), Hungary (HU), Malta (MT), the Netherlands (NL), Austria (AT), Poland (PL), Portugal (PT), Romania (RO), Slovenia (SI), Slovakia (SK), Finland (FI), Sweden (SE) and the United Kingdom (UK).

• Non-seasonally adjusted and trend data can be found in the statistical database on the Eurostat website.

• Eurostat produces harmonised unemployment rates for individual EU Member States, the euro area and the EU. These unemployment rates are based on the definition recommended by the International Labour Organisation (ILO). The measurement is based on a harmonised source, the European Union Labour Force Survey (LFS).

Based on the ILO definition, Eurostat defines unemployed persons as persons aged 15 to 74 who:

- are without work;

- are available to start work within the next two weeks;

- and have actively sought employment at some time during the previous four weeks.

The unemployment rate is the number of people unemployed as a percentage of the labour force. The labour force is the total number of people employed plus unemployed.

The numbers of unemployed and the monthly unemployment rates are estimates based on results of the LFS which is a continuous household survey carried out in Member States on the basis of agreed definitions. These results are interpolated/extrapolated to monthly data using national survey data and/or national monthly series on registered unemployment. The most recent figures are therefore provisional; results from the Labour Force Survey are available 90 days after the end of the reference period for most Member States.

Monthly unemployment and employment series are calculated first at the level of four categories for each Member State (males and females 15-24 years, males and females 25-74 years). These series are then seasonally adjusted and all the national and European aggregates are calculated.

Member States may publish other rates such as register based unemployment rates, or rates based on national Labour Force Surveys or corresponding surveys. These rates may vary from those published by Eurostat due to a different definition or methodological choices.

Current deviations from the definition of unemployment in the EU Labour Force Survey:

Spain, Italy and United Kingdom: Unemployment is restricted to persons aged 16-74. In Spain and Italy the legal minimum age for working is 16. Employment data used for Italy includes also those above 74.

• Compared with the rates published in News Release 114/2011 of 1 August 2011, the June 2011 unemployment rates have been revised from 9.9% to 10.0% for the EA17 and from 9.4% to 9.5% for the EU27. Among Member States, the rate has been revised by between 0.2 to 0.4 percentage points for Luxembourg and Portugal. The unemployment rate for Poland was revised upwards by 0.5 percentage points. The revisions are primarily caused by the inclusion of the most recent EU Labour Force Survey data in the calculation process and updates to the seasonally adjusted series.

The following LFS data are used in the calculations of the monthly unemployment rates published in this News Release:

For Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Austria, Romania, Finland and Sweden monthly data up to and including July 2011.

For the United Kingdom monthly data up to and including April - May - June 2011 (3-month rolling average).

For Denmark, Estonia, Spain, Lithuania, Poland and Portugal quarterly data up to and including Q2 2011.

For Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Ireland, Greece, France, Cyprus, Latvia, Luxembourg, Hungary, Malta, Slovenia and Slovakia quarterly data up to and including Q1 2011.

• For Romania, the series now published are direct monthly estimates from the LFS. Figures for youth unemployment continue to be published on a quarterly basis.

• Italy has implemented a method to produce monthly unemployment data purely based on the LFS. For the moment, these data should be considered provisional.

• Estonia, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania: quarterly data for all series.

Cyprus, Romania and Slovenia: quarterly data for youth unemployment.

• For Germany, Austria and Finland the trend component is used instead of the more volatile seasonally adjusted data.

Selected Principal European Economic Indicators: http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/euroindicators

SEASONALLY ADJUSTED UNEMPLOYMENT RATES (%)

TOTALS

: Data not available e: Estimate Source: Eurostat

SEASONALLY ADJUSTED UNEMPLOYMENT RATES (%)

* Data for Q1 2011 : Data not available e: Estimate Source: Eurostat

SEASONALLY ADJUSTED NUMBER OF UNEMPLOYED (in millions)