STAT/13/31

1 March 2013

January 2013
Euro area unemployment rate at 11.9%
EU27 at 10.8%

The euro area1 (EA17) seasonally-adjusted2 unemployment rate3 was 11.9% in January 2013, up from 11.8% in December 20124. The EU271 unemployment rate was 10.8%, up from 10.7% in the previous month4. In both zones, rates have risen markedly compared with January 2012, when they were 10.8% and 10.1% respectively. These figures are published by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.

Eurostat estimates that 26.217 million men and women in the EU27, of whom 18.998 million were in the euro area, were unemployed in January 2013. Compared with December 2012, the number of persons unemployed increased by 222 000 in the EU27 and by 201 000 in the euro area. Compared with January 2012, unemployment rose by 1.890 million in the EU27 and by 1.909 million in the euro area.

Among the Member States, the lowest unemployment rates were recorded in Austria (4.9%), Germany and Luxembourg (both 5.3%) and the Netherlands (6.0%), and the highest in Greece (27.0% in November 2012), Spain (26.2%) and Portugal (17.6%).

Compared with a year ago, the unemployment rate increased in nineteen Member States, fell in seven and remained stable in Denmark. The largest decreases were observed in Estonia (11.1% to 9.9% between December 2011 and December 2012), Latvia (15.5% to 14.4% between the fourth quarters of 2011 and 2012), Romania (7.4% to 6.6%) and the United Kingdom (8.3% to 7.7% between November 2011 and November 2012). The highest increases were registered in Greece (20.8% to 27.0% between November 2011 and November 2012), Cyprus (9.9% to 14.7%), Portugal (14.7% to 17.6%) and Spain (23.6% to 26.2%).

Between January 2012 and January 2013, the unemployment rate for males increased from 10.6% to 11.8% in the euro area and from 10.0% to 10.8% in the EU27. The female unemployment rate rose from 11.0% to 12.1% in the euro area and from 10.2% to 10.9% in the EU27.

In January 2013, 5.732 million young persons (under 25) were unemployed in the EU27, of whom 3.642 million were in the euro area. Compared with January 2012, youth unemployment rose by 264 000 in the EU27 and by 295 000 in the euro area. In January 2013, the youth unemployment rate was 23.6% in the EU27 and 24.2% in the euro area, compared with 22.4% and 21.9% respectively in January 2012. In January 2013 the lowest rates were observed in Germany (7.9%), Austria (9.9%) and the Netherlands (10.3%), and the highest in Greece (59.4% in November 2012), Spain (55.5%) and Italy (38.7%).

In January 2013, the unemployment rate in the USA was 7.9%. In Japan it was 4.2% in December 2012.

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).

1. 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.

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.

3. Compared with the rates published in News Release 19/2013 of 1 February 2013, the December 2012 unemployment rate for the EA17 has been revised from 11.7% to 11.8%. The rate for the EU27 remains unchanged at 10.7%. Among Member States, the rate has been revised by between 0.2 and 0.4 percentage points for the Czech Republic, Greece (for October), Latvia (for third quarter 2012), Austria, Poland, Romania and Sweden. The rate has been revised by 0.6 percentage points for Denmark, by 0.8 percentage points for Portugal, and by 1.0 percentage point for Lithuania. For the Czech Republic, Denmark, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Portugal the revisions are primarily caused by the inclusions of the most recent LFS data in the calculation process. For the other countries revisions are mainly due to updates to the seasonally adjusted series. For the Czech Republic revisions are also due to the use, starting from this month, of direct monthly estimates from the LFS. Over the period January 2009 - December 2012 revisions range between -0.4 and +0.3 percentage points. The average absolute revision over that period amounts to 0.1 percentage points. Because of the change in the methodology, series for the Czech Republic available this month in Eurostat’s online database start from January 2009 only. Series from January 1998 will be disseminated as from next month.

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

For the Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Austria, Romania, Finland and Sweden: monthly data up to and including January 2013.

For Greece: monthly data up to and including November 2012.

For Estonia and Hungary: monthly data (3 month moving average) up to and including November-December 2012 and January 2013.

For the United Kingdom: monthly data (3 month moving average) up to and including October-November-December 2012.

For Denmark, Spain, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland: quarterly data up to and including Q4 2012.

For Belgium, Bulgaria, Ireland, France, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Malta, Portugal, Slovenia and Slovakia: quarterly data up to and including Q3 2012.

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

2. Latvia: quarterly data for all series.

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

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

Issued by: Eurostat Press Office Tim ALLEN Tel: +352-4301-33 444 eurostat-pressoffice@ec.europa.eu Eurostat news releases on internet: http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat

For further information on data: Nicola MASSARELLI Tel: +352-4301-34 525 Hubertus VREESWIJK Tel: +352-4301-34 323 estat-monthly-unemployment@ec.europa.eu

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

SEASONALLY ADJUSTED UNEMPLOYMENT RATES (%)

TOTALS

	Jan 2012	Jul 2012	Aug 2012	Sep 2012	Oct 2012	Nov 2012	Dec 2012	Jan 2013
EA17	10.8	11.4	11.5	11.6	11.7	11.8	11.8	11.9
EU27	10.1	10.5	10.5	10.6	10.7	10.7	10.7	10.8
BE	7.1	7.4	7.4	7.3	7.4	7.4	7.4	7.4
BG	11.9	12.4	12.3	12.2	12.3	12.4	12.3	12.4
CZ	6.7	7.0	7.1	6.8	7.1	7.5	7.1	7.0
DK	7.4	7.6	7.4	7.3	7.3	7.4	7.4	7.4
DE7	5.6	5.4	5.4	5.4	5.4	5.4	5.3	5.3
EE	11.1*	10.1	10.0	9.7	9.7	9.9	9.9	:
IE	15.1	14.8	14.8	14.8	14.7	14.7	14.7	14.7
EL	20.8**	25.0	25.6	26.0	26.6	27.0	:	:
ES	23.6	25.3	25.5	25.7	26.0	26.2	26.1	26.2
FR	10.0	10.3	10.3	10.3	10.4	10.4	10.5	10.6
IT5	9.6	10.6	10.6	10.9	11.2	11.2	11.3	11.7
CY	9.9	12.2	12.4	13.0	13.9	14.1	14.6	14.7
LV6	15.5***	14.4	14.4	14.4	14.4	14.4	14.4	:
LT	13.7	13.0	13.0	13.0	13.1	13.2	13.3	13.3
LU	4.9	5.0	5.0	5.0	5.0	5.1	5.2	5.3
HU	10.9*	10.7	10.7	10.8	10.9	10.9	11.1	:
MT	6.2	6.6	6.7	6.7	6.9	6.9	6.8	7.0
NL	5.0	5.3	5.3	5.4	5.5	5.6	5.8	6.0
AT7	4.0	4.5	4.5	4.5	4.5	4.5	4.7	4.9
PL	9.9	10.1	10.2	10.3	10.3	10.4	10.4	10.6
PT	14.7	15.9	16.2	16.4	16.8	17.0	17.3	17.6
RO	7.4	7.0	6.9	6.9	6.8	6.7	6.7	6.6
SI	8.3	9.2	9.4	9.6	9.9	9.9	10.0	10.2
SK	13.7	14.1	14.1	14.0	14.2	14.5	14.7	14.9
FI7	7.6	7.7	7.8	7.8	7.7	7.7	7.7	7.9
SE	7.9	7.9	8.1	8.1	8.0	8.4	8.0	8.0
UK	8.3**	7.8	7.8	7.8	7.8	7.7	:	:
IS	6.5*	5.8	5.7	5.6	5.4	5.4	5.4	:
NO	3.3**	3.1	3.1	3.1	3.3	3.5	:	:
US	8.3	8.3	8.1	7.8	7.9	7.8	7.8	7.9
JP	4.5*	4.3	4.2	4.2	4.2	4.1	4.2	:

Source: Eurostat : Data not available * December 2011 ** November 2011 *** Q4 2011

SEASONALLY ADJUSTED UNEMPLOYMENT RATES (%)

	Youth (under 25's) Males Females Jan 12 Nov 12 Dec 12 Jan 13 Jan 12 Nov 12 Dec 12 Jan 13 Jan 12 Nov 12 Dec 12 Jan 13
EA17	21.9	24.0	24.0	24.2	10.6	11.6	11.7	11.8	11.0	11.9	12.0	12.1
EU27	22.4	23.4	23.4	23.6	10.0	10.7	10.7	10.8	10.2	10.8	10.8	10.9
BE	18.3	19.2	19.3	19.6	7.1	7.5	7.6	7.6	7.1	7.3	7.3	7.2
BG	28.2	27.5	27.6	28.3	13.1	13.8	13.6	13.7	10.5	10.8	10.9	11.0
CZ	20.5	20.3	19.6	18.3	6.0	6.4	6.1	6.1	7.7	8.8	8.3	8.1
DK	14.5	14.4	14.7	15.0	7.3	7.4	7.3	7.4	7.5	7.4	7.5	7.5
DE7	8.1	8.0	7.9	7.9	5.9	5.6	5.5	5.5	5.3	5.1	5.1	5.1
EE	21.9	19.2	19.4	:	11.5	10.9	11.1	:	10.0	8.9	8.6	:
IE	30.9	29.9	30.3	30.9	18.1	17.6	17.7	17.8	11.4	11.1	10.9	10.9
EL	52.1	59.4	:	:	18.5	24.0	:	:	25.6	31.1	:	:
ES	50.2	55.3	55.4	55.5	23.1	25.7	25.7	25.9	24.1	26.7	26.6	26.7
FR	23.2	26.5	26.7	26.9	9.8	10.4	10.5	10.6	10.1	10.5	10.5	10.6
IT5	32.3	37.3	37.1	38.7	8.8	10.4	10.4	10.8	10.8	12.4	12.4	12.8
CY6	25.4	28.4	28.4	:	10.6	14.8	15.4	15.2	9.1	13.2	13.8	14.2
LV6	29.5	24.0	24.0	:	16.5	15.8	15.8	:	14.3	12.9	12.9	:
LT	29.7	24.1	24.2	25.7	15.6	15.0	15.0	14.9	11.8	11.5	11.6	11.7
LU	18.2	18.3	18.5	18.5	4.4	4.6	4.8	4.8	5.5	5.7	5.8	5.9
HU	27.8	27.9	28.4	:	11.2	11.1	11.3	:	11.1	10.7	10.7	:
MT	13.5	16.3	15.7	16.0	5.5	6.1	6.2	6.6	7.4	8.4	7.7	7.8
NL	9.0	9.7	10.0	10.3	5.0	5.8	6.1	6.4	5.0	5.4	5.5	5.6
AT7	8.5	8.6	9.1	9.9	3.8	4.9	5.0	5.1	4.4	4.1	4.4	4.7
PL	26.3	27.7	27.7	28.1	9.3	9.7	9.7	9.9	10.7	11.2	11.3	11.4
PT	34.6	38.5	38.3	38.6	14.6	16.9	17.2	17.5	14.8	17.1	17.5	17.7
RO6	23.7	22.4*		:	8.0	7.0	7.0	6.9	6.6	6.3	6.2	6.2
SI6	16.7	27.1	27.1	:	8.0	9.4	9.8	10.0	8.7	10.4	10.3	10.5
SK	33.3	35.6	35.8	35.9	13.3	14.2	14.5	14.8	14.1	14.8	14.9	15.0
FI7	19.5	18.9	18.9	19.5	8.2	8.3	8.3	8.4	6.9	7.0	7.0	7.3
SE	22.7	24.7	24.1	23.5	8.1	8.5	8.2	8.3	7.8	8.2	7.8	7.6
UK	22.0	20.7	:	:	8.8	8.1	:	:	7.6	7.3	:	:
IS	14.5	12.3	12.5	:	6.9	5.7	5.7	:	6.1	5.0	5.1	:
NO	8.1	9.7	:	:	3.7	3.9	:	:	2.7	3.1	:	:
US	16.0	15.6	16.3	16.8	8.3	7.9	7.9	8.0	8.3	7.6	7.8	7.8
JP	9.5	6.9	7.1	:	4.9	4.3	4.5	:	4.4	3.8	3.9	:

Source: Eurostat : Data not available * Q3 2012

SEASONALLY ADJUSTED NUMBER OF UNEMPLOYED (in millions)

	Jan 2012	Jul 2012	Aug 2012	Sep 2012	Oct 2012	Nov 2012	Dec 2012	Jan 2013
EA17	17.089	18.174	18.259	18.416	18.653	18.764	18.797	18.998
EU27	24.327	25.339	25.423	25.568	25.825	25.977	25.995	26.217
EA17 - youth	3.347	3.494	3.497	3.547	3.598	3.617	3.609	3.642
EU27 - youth	5.468	5.518	5.542	5.569	5.644	5.689	5.688	5.732