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March 2009
Euro area unemployment up to 8.9%
Référence:  STAT/09/61    Date:  30/04/2009
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STAT/09/61

30 April 2009

March 2009
Euro area unemployment up to 8.9%
EU27 up to 8.3%

The euro area1 (EA16) seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate2 was 8.9% in March 2009, compared with 8.7% in February3. It was 7.2% in March 2008. The EU271 unemployment rate was 8.3% in March 2009, compared with 8.1% in February3. It was 6.7% in March 2008.

Eurostat estimates that 20.154 million men and women in the EU27, of which 14.158 million were in the euro area, were unemployed in March 2009. Compared with February, the number of persons unemployed increased by
626 000 in the EU27 and by 419 000 in the euro area. Compared with March 2008, unemployment went up by 4.061 million in the EU27 and by 2.816 million in the euro area.

These figures are published by Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Communities.

Among the Member States, the lowest unemployment rate was recorded in the Netherlands (2.8%), and the highest rates in Spain (17.4%), Latvia (16.1%) and Lithuania (15.5%).

Compared with a year ago, three Member States recorded a fall in their unemployment rate, twenty-three an increase and the rate remained stable in the Netherlands. The falls were observed in Romania (6.1% to 5.8% between the fourth quarters of 2007 and 2008), Bulgaria (6.1% to 5.9%) and Greece (7.9% to 7.8% between the fourth quarters of 2007 and 2008). The highest increases were registered in Lithuania (4.3% to 15.5%), Latvia (6.1% to 16.1%) and Spain (9.5% to 17.4%).

The unemployment rate for males rose from 6.5% to 8.6% between March 2008 and March 2009 in the euro area and from 6.2% to 8.3% in the EU27. The female unemployment rate increased from 8.2% to 9.2% in the euro area and from 7.3% to 8.3% in the EU27.

In March 2009, the youth unemployment rate (under-25s) was 18.1% in the euro area and 18.3% in the EU27. In March 2008 it was 14.5% and 14.6% respectively. The lowest rate was observed in the Netherlands (5.7%), and the highest rates in Spain (35.4%) and Latvia (29.3% in the first quarter of 2009).

In March 2009, the unemployment rate was 8.5% in the USA. In Japan it was 4.4% in February 2009.
[ Figures and graphics available in PDF and WORD PROCESSED ]

  1. The euro area (EA16) consists of Belgium, Germany, 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. 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 age limit for working is 16.

Netherlands: Persons without a job, who are available for work and looking for a job are only included in unemployment if they express that they would like to work.

  1. The February 2009 unemployment rates for the euro area and the EU27 have been revised. The rates published in News Release 45/2009 of 1 April 2009 were 8.5% for the euro area and 7.9% for the EU27. Among Member States, the rate has been revised by more than 0.1 percentage points for the Czech Republic, Denmark, Latvia, Slovakia and Finland. A larger revision (of around one percentage point) has been registered for Spain. 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, Finland and Sweden up to and including March 2009.
For the Netherlands up to and including January-February-March 2009 (3-month rolling average).
For the United Kingdom up to and including December 2008-January-February 2009 (3-month rolling average).
For Spain up to and including 2009Q1.

For Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Ireland, Greece, France, Italy, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Hungary, Malta, Austria, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia and Slovakia up to and including 2008Q4.

  1. Greece, Italy and Romania: quarterly data for all series.

Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania and Slovenia: quarterly data for youth unemployment.

  1. Provisional data: the Swedish Labour Force Survey was amended in April 2005 to take further account of the EU harmonised methodology. This break in the series may affect the reliability of the seasonal adjustment.

Issued by:
Eurostat Press Office
Tim ALLEN

Tel: +352-4301-33 444

eurostat-pressoffice@ec.europa.eu
Eurostat news releases on Internet:
For further information on data:

Hubertus VREESWIJK

Tel: +352-4301-34 323

Remko HIJMAN

Tel: +352-4301-35 357


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

[ Figures and graphics available in PDF and WORD PROCESSED ]

SEASONALLY ADJUSTED UNEMPLOYMENT RATES (%)

TOTALS
March 2008
Sept 2008
Oct 2008
Nov 2008
Dec 2008
Jan 2009
Feb 2009
March 2009
EA16
7.2
7.7
7.8
8.0
8.2
8.4
8.7
8.9
EU27
6.7
7.1
7.3
7.4
7.6
7.8
8.1
8.3
BE
6.8
7.2
7.1
6.9
6.9
7.1
7.2
7.3
BG
6.1
5.2
5.1
5.0
5.3
5.3
5.6
5.9
CZ
4.4
4.3
4.4
4.5
4.7
4.9
5.2
5.5
DK
3.0
3.4
3.7
3.9
4.3
4.7
5.1
5.7
DE
7.4
7.1
7.1
7.1
7.2
7.3
7.4
7.6
EE
4.0
6.7
6.9
7.4
8.4
9.1
10.0
11.1
IE
5.2
7.1
7.6
8.2
8.7
9.4
10.0
10.6
EL4
7.8
7.5
7.8
7.8
7.8
:
:
:
ES
9.5
12.4
13.2
13.9
14.7
15.7
16.5
17.4
FR
7.6
7.9
8.0
8.2
8.3
8.4
8.6
8.8
IT4
6.6
6.7
6.9
6.9
6.9
:
:
:
CY
3.7
3.8
3.8
4.0
4.3
4.4
4.6
4.9
LV
6.1
8.1
9.3
10.3
11.5
13.2
14.6
16.1
LT
4.3
6.6
7.2
8.4
9.7
11.6
13.6
15.5
LU
4.4
5.1
5.1
5.3
5.5
5.7
5.9
6.1
HU
7.6
7.9
7.8
8.0
8.3
8.4
8.8
9.2
MT
5.8
5.7
5.9
6.1
6.0
6.3
6.5
6.7
NL
2.8
2.7
2.7
2.7
2.7
2.7
2.7
2.8
AT
3.8
3.9
4.0
4.0
4.2
4.3
4.5
4.5
PL
7.4
6.8
6.8
6.9
7.0
7.2
7.5
7.7
PT
7.6
7.8
7.8
7.9
8.0
8.2
8.4
8.5
RO4
5.8
5.7
5.8
5.8
5.8
:
:
:
SI
4.5
4.1
4.2
4.2
4.1
4.3
4.6
5.0
SK
9.9
9.0
9.1
9.2
9.3
9.6
10.0
10.5
FI
6.3
6.5
6.6
6.6
6.7
6.9
7.1
7.4
SE5
5.8
6.4
6.7
7.0
7.0
7.3
7.6
8.0
UK
5.2
6.0
6.1
6.3
6.4
6.6
:
:
NO
2.4
2.5
2.7
2.8
2.8
3.0
3.1
:
US
5.1
6.2
6.6
6.8
7.2
7.6
8.1
8.5
JP
3.8
4.0
3.8
4.0
4.3
4.2
4.4
:

: Data not available Source: Eurostat

SEASONALLY ADJUSTED UNEMPLOYMENT RATES (%)
Youth (under 25's)
Males
Females
Mar-08
Jan-09
Feb-09
Mar-09
Mar-08
Jan-09
Feb-09
Mar-09
Mar-08
Jan-09
Feb-09
Mar-09
EA16
14.5
17.2
17.7
18.1
6.5
8.1
8.3
8.6
8.2
8.9
9.0
9.2
EU27
14.6
17.3
17.8
18.3
6.2
7.7
8.0
8.3
7.3
8.0
8.2
8.3
BE
16.8
19.1
19.5
19.9
6.4
6.7
6.8
6.9
7.3
7.6
7.7
7.8
BG
13.8
13.9
14.9
16.1
5.9
5.5
5.9
6.5
6.3
5.1
5.1
5.3
CZ
9.4
11.9
12.4
13.0
3.4
4.2
4.5
4.8
5.6
5.9
6.2
6.4
DK
7.0
10.3
11.0
12.3
2.7
5.2
5.8
6.6
3.5
4.1
4.3
4.6
DE
9.9
10.1
10.4
10.7
7.3
7.6
7.8
8.0
7.5
7.0
7.0
7.1
EE4
7.7
26.8
26.8
26.8
3.4
9.5
9.9
10.4
4.5
8.7
10.1
11.7
IE
10.8
20.0
21.4
22.8
6.0
11.4
12.1
12.8
4.0
6.7
7.3
7.7
EL4
22.3
22.3*
:
:
5.1
5.2*
:
:
11.7
11.5*
:
:
ES
21.1
32.6
34.0
35.4
7.9
15.1
16.1
17.1
11.6
16.4
17.1
17.9
FR
17.7
20.5
21.0
21.4
7.1
8.0
8.1
8.3
8.1
9.0
9.1
9.3
IT4
20.5
22.4*
:
:
5.2
5.9*
:
:
8.6
8.3*
:
:
CY4
9.2
12.4
12.4
12.4
3.2
4.0
4.3
4.6
4.3
4.9
5.0
5.3
LV4
11.0
29.3
29.3
29.3
6.3
15.9
17.9
20.0
5.9
10.2
10.9
11.7
LT4
9.5
27.7
27.7
27.7
4.4
13.5
16.5
19.2
4.2
9.6
10.6
11.4
LU
15.5
19.1
19.4
20.1
3.5
5.0
5.2
5.4
5.6
6.7
6.8
7.1
HU
19.5
20.8
21.8
23.0
7.2
8.4
8.8
9.2
8.0
8.4
8.7
9.1
MT
11.5
12.5
13.0
13.9
5.5
5.9
6.0
6.2
6.5
7.1
7.4
7.7
NL
5.3
5.5
5.6
5.7
2.5
2.7
2.7
2.8
3.1
2.8
2.7
2.8
AT
7.9
10.6
11.2
11.4
3.4
4.1
4.3
4.4
4.2
4.5
4.6
4.6
PL
17.2
18.7
19.7
20.7
6.7
6.6
6.9
7.2
8.2
7.9
8.2
8.3
PT
15.8
17.8
18.1
18.4
6.4
7.3
7.5
7.7
9.0
9.2
9.3
9.4
RO4
18.3
18.0*
:
:
6.9
6.6*
:
:
4.5
4.8*
:
:
SI4
11.1
10.1
10.1
10.1
4.1
4.0
4.3
4.8
5.0
4.7
4.9
5.3
SK
18.9
20.8
21.4
22.1
8.4
8.9
9.3
9.8
11.8
10.5
10.9
11.4
FI
15.8
17.3
17.5
17.7
5.8
7.1
7.5
7.9
6.7
6.8
6.8
6.8
SE5
19.2
23.2
24.2
25.2
5.4
7.3
7.7
8.2
6.3
7.3
7.5
7.8
UK
14.1
16.6
:
:
5.5
7.3
:
:
4.9
5.8
:
:
NO
6.6
8.5
8.4
:
2.5
3.2
3.3
:
2.2
2.8
2.9
:
US
11.4
14.8
15.5
16.3
5.2
8.3
8.8
9.5
5.0
6.7
7.3
7.5
JP
:
:
:
:
3.9
4.2
4.4
:
3.8
4.1
4.5
:

: Data not available Source: Eurostat * Data for 2008Q4

SEASONALLY ADJUSTED NUMBER OF UNEMPLOYED (in millions)
March 2008
Sept 2008
Oct 2008
Nov 2008
Dec 2008
Jan 2009
Feb 2009
March 2009
EA16
11.342
12.086
12.383
12.637
12.930
13.344
13.739
14.158
EU27
16.093
17.071
17.481
17.880
18.346
18.944
19.528
20.154

[ Figures and graphics available in PDF and WORD PROCESSED ]