May 2012 Euro area unemployment rate at 11.1% EU27 at 10.3%

STAT/12/101

2 July 2012

May 2012
Euro area unemployment rate at 11.1%
EU27 at 10.3%

The euro area1 (EA17) seasonally-adjusted2 unemployment rate3 was 11.1% in May 2012, compared with 11.0% in April4. It was 10.0% in May 2011. The EU271 unemployment rate was 10.3% in May 2012, compared with 10.2% in April4. It was 9.5% in May 2011.

Eurostat estimates that 24.868 million men and women in the EU27, of whom 17.561 million were in the euro area, were unemployed in May 2012. Compared with April 2012, the number of persons unemployed increased by
151 000 in the EU27 and by 88 000 in the euro area. Compared with May 2011, unemployment rose by 1.952 million in the EU27 and by 1.820 million 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 (4.1%), the Netherlands (5.1%), Luxembourg (5.4%) and Germany (5.6%), and the highest in Spain (24.6%) and Greece (21.9% in March 2012).

Compared with a year ago, the unemployment rate fell in eight Member States, increased in eighteen, and remained stable in Hungary. The largest falls were observed in Estonia (13.6% to 10.9% between the first quarters of 2011 and 2012), Lithuania (15.7% to 13.7%) and Latvia (17.1% to 15.3% between the first quarters of 2011 and 2012). The highest increases were registered in Greece (15.7% to 21.9% between March 2011 and March 2012), Spain (20.9% to 24.6%) and Cyprus (7.5% to 10.8%).

Between May 2011 and May 2012, the unemployment rate for males increased from 9.8% to 10.9% in the euro area and from 9.5% to 10.3% in the EU27. The female unemployment rate rose from 10.3% to 11.3% in the euro area and from 9.6% to 10.4% in the EU27.

In May 2012, 5.517 million young persons (under 25) were unemployed in the EU27, of whom 3.412 million were in the euro area. Compared with May 2011, youth unemployment rose by 282 000 in the EU27 and by 254 000 in the euro area. In May 2012, the youth unemployment rate was 22.7% in the EU27 and 22.6% in the euro area. In May 2011 it was 21.0% and 20.5% respectively. The lowest rates were observed in Germany (7.9%), Austria (8.3%) and the Netherlands (9.2%), and the highest in Greece (52.1% in March 2012) and Spain (52.1%).

In May 2012, the unemployment rate was 8.2% in the USA and it was 4.4% 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 81/2012 of 1 June 2012, the April 2012 unemployment rate for the EA17 remains unchanged at 11.0%. The rate for the EU27 has been revised from 10.3% to 10.2%. Among Member States, the rate has been revised by between 0.2 and 0.4 percentage points for Belgium, Bulgaria, Germany, Ireland, Greece and France. The rate has been revised downwards by 0.5 percentage points for Slovenia and upwards by 0.6 percentage points for Cyprus. 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. In addition, data are slightly revised for Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Cyprus and Slovakia due to the inclusion of the latest census results in the weighting of the LFS.

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 May 2012.

For Greece monthly data up to and including March 2012.

For the United Kingdom monthly data up to and including February-March-April 2012 (3-month rolling average).

For Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Ireland, France, Spain, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia and Slovakia quarterly data up to and including Q1 2012.

• 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 and Latvia: 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 Source: Eurostat

SEASONALLY ADJUSTED UNEMPLOYMENT RATES (%)

: Data not available Source: Eurostat

SEASONALLY ADJUSTED NUMBER OF UNEMPLOYED (in millions)