September 2012 Euro area unemployment rate at 11.6% EU27 at 10.6%

Reference: STAT/12/155 Event Date: 31/10/2012

Export pdf word

STAT/12/155

31 October 2012

September 2012
Euro area unemployment rate at 11.6%
EU27 at 10.6%

The euro area1 (EA17) seasonally-adjusted2 unemployment rate3 was 11.6% in September 2012, up from 11.5% in August4. The EU271 unemployment rate was 10.6% in September 2012, stable compared with August4. In both zones, rates have risen significantly compared with September 2011, when they were 10.3% and 9.8% respectively. These figures are published by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.

Eurostat estimates that 25.751 million men and women in the EU27, of whom 18.490 million were in the euro area, were unemployed in September 2012. Compared with August 2012, the number of persons unemployed increased by 169 000 in the EU27 and by 146 000 in the euro area. Compared with September 2011, unemployment rose by 2.145 million in the EU27 and by 2.174 million in the euro area.

Among the Member States, the lowest unemployment rates were recorded in Austria (4.4%), Luxembourg (5.2%), Germany and the Netherlands (both 5.4%), and the highest in Spain (25.8%) and Greece (25.1% in July 2012).

Compared with a year ago, the unemployment rate increased in twenty Member States and fell in seven. The largest decreases were observed in Lithuania (14.7% to 12.9%), Estonia (11.4% to 10.0% between August 2011 and August 2012), and Latvia (17.0% to 15.9% between the second quarters of 2011 and 2012). The highest increases were registered in Greece (17.8% to 25.1% between July 2011 and July 2012), Cyprus (8.5% to 12.2%), Spain (22.4% to 25.8%) and Portugal (13.1% to 15.7%).

Between September 2011 and September 2012, the unemployment rate for males increased from 10.1% to 11.5% in the euro area and from 9.7% to 10.6% in the EU27. The female unemployment rate rose from 10.6% to 11.8% in the euro area and from 9.9% to 10.7% in the EU27.

In September 2012, 5.520 million young persons (under 25) were unemployed in the EU27, of whom 3.493 million were in the euro area. Compared with September 2011, youth unemployment rose by 164 000 in the EU27 and by 275 000 in the euro area. In September 2012, the youth unemployment rate was 22.8% in the EU27 and 23.3% in the euro area, compared with 21.7% and 21.0% respectively in September 2011. In September 2012 the lowest rates were observed in Germany (8.0%), the Netherlands (9.7%) and Austria (9.9%), and the highest in Greece (55.6% in July 2012) and Spain (54.2%).

In September 2012, the unemployment rate was 7.8% in the USA and 4.2% 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. 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.

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.

• Compared with the rates published in News Release 138/2012 of 1 October 2012, the August 2012 unemployment rates have been revised from 11.4% to 11.5% for the EA17 and from 10.5% to 10.6% for the EU27. Among Member States, the rate has been revised by between 0.2 and 0.4 percentage points for Greece and Spain. 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. For Estonia, as from this News Release, direct monthly estimates from the LFS are used.

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 September 2012.

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

For Estonia and Hungary monthly data (3 month moving average) up to and including July-August-September 2012.

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

For Spain, quarterly data up to and including Q3 2012.

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

• 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

Source: Eurostat : Data not available * July 2011 ** August 2011 *** Q2 2011

SEASONALLY ADJUSTED UNEMPLOYMENT RATES (%)

Source: Eurostat : Data not available * Data for Q2 2012

SEASONALLY ADJUSTED NUMBER OF UNEMPLOYED (in millions)