August 2012 Euro area unemployment rate at 11.4% EU27 at 10.5%

Reference: STAT/12/138 Event Date: 01/10/2012

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STAT/12/138
1 October 2012

August 2012
Euro area unemployment rate at 11.4%
EU27 at 10.5%

The euro area1 (EA17) seasonally-adjusted2 unemployment rate3 was 11.4% in August 2012, stable compared with July4. The EU271 unemployment rate was 10.5% in August 2012, also stable compared with July4. In both zones, rates have risen compared with August 2011, when they were 10.2% and 9.7% respectively.

Eurostat estimates that 25.466 million men and women in the EU27, of whom 18.196 million were in the euro area, were unemployed in August 2012. Compared with July 2012, the number of persons unemployed increased by
49 000 in the EU27 and by 34 000 in the euro area. Compared with August 2011, unemployment rose by 2.170 million in the EU27 and by 2.144 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 (4.5%), Luxembourg (5.2%), the Netherlands (5.3%) and Germany (5.5%), and the highest in Spain (25.1%) and Greece (24.4% in June 2012).

Compared with a year ago, the unemployment rate increased in twenty Member States, fell in six and remained stable in the United Kingdom. The largest falls were observed in Estonia (13.2% to 10.1% between the second quarters of 2011 and 2012), Lithuania (15.0% to 12.9%) and Latvia (17.0% to 15.9% between the second quarters of 2011 and 2012). The highest increases were registered in Greece (17.2% to 24.4% between June 2011 and June 2012), Cyprus (8.0% to 11.7%), Portugal (12.7% to 15.9%) and Spain (22.0% to 25.1%).

Between August 2011 and August 2012, the unemployment rate for males increased from 9.9% to 11.3% in the euro area and from 9.6% to 10.5% in the EU27. The female unemployment rate rose from 10.5% to 11.6% in the euro area and from 9.8% to 10.6% in the EU27.

In August 2012, 5.458 million young persons (under 25) were unemployed in the EU27, of whom 3.392 million were in the euro area. Compared with August 2011, youth unemployment rose by 164 000 in the EU27 and by 213 000 in the euro area. In August 2012, the youth unemployment rate was 22.7% in the EU27 and 22.8% in the euro area, compared with 21.5% and 20.7% respectively in August 2011. In August 2012 the lowest rates were observed in Germany (8.1%), the Netherlands (9.4%) and Austria (9.7%), and the highest in Greece (55.4% in June 2012) and Spain (52.9%).

In August 2012, the unemployment rate was 8.1% in the USA and 4.1% in Japan.

1. 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.

2. 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. In this news release unemployment rates are based on employment and unemployment data covering persons aged 15 to 74. Exceptions are Spain, Italy and the United Kingdom, for which the lower age limit is 16 (in Spain and Italy this is the legal minimum age for working). In addition, employment data used for Italy includes also those above 74.

The number 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 harmonised 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 LFS are available 90 days after the end of the reference period for most Member States.

3. 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 the national LFS or corresponding surveys. These rates may vary from those published by Eurostat due to a different definition or methodological choices.

4. Compared with the rates published in News Release 124/2012 of 31 August 2012, the July 2012 unemployment rates have been revised from 11.3% to 11.4% for the EA17 and from 10.4% to 10.5% for the EU27. Among Member States, the rate has been revised by between 0.2 and 0.4 percentage points for Belgium, Czech Republic, Greece, France, Luxembourg, Malta, Slovenia and Slovakia. It has been revised by 0.8 percentage points for Cyprus. The revisions are primarily caused by the inclusion of the most recent LFS data in the calculation process and by 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 August 2012.

For Greece, monthly data up to and including June 2012.

For Hungary and the United Kingdom monthly data (3 month moving average) up to and including June-July-August and May-June-July 2012, respectively.

For Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Ireland, Spain, France, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia and Slovakia quarterly data up to and including Q2 2012.

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

6. Estonia and Latvia: quarterly data for all series.

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

7. 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 * June 2011 ** Q2 2011 *** July 2011

SEASONALLY ADJUSTED UNEMPLOYMENT RATES (%)

: Data not available Source: Eurostat

SEASONALLY ADJUSTED NUMBER OF UNEMPLOYED (in millions)