European Commission : November 2012 Euro area unemployment rate at 11.8% EU27 at 10.7%

STAT/13/4

8 January 2013

November 2012
Euro area unemployment rate at 11.8%
EU27 at 10.7%

The euro area1 (EA17) seasonally-adjusted2 unemployment rate3 was 11.8% in November 2012, up from 11.7% in October4. The EU271 unemployment rate was 10.7% in November 2012, stable compared with October4. In both zones, rates have risen markedly compared with November 2011, when they were 10.6% and 10.0% respectively. These figures are published by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.

Eurostat estimates that 26.061 million men and women in the EU27, of whom 18.820 million were in the euro area, were unemployed in November 2012. Compared with October 2012, the number of persons unemployed increased by 154 000 in the EU27 and by 113 000 in the euro area. Compared with November 2011, unemployment rose by 2.012 million in the EU27 and by 2.015 million in the euro area.

Among the Member States, the lowest unemployment rates were recorded in Austria (4.5%), Luxembourg (5.1%), Germany (5.4%) and the Netherlands (5.6%), and the highest in Spain (26.6%) and Greece (26.0% in September 2012).

Compared with a year ago, the unemployment rate increased in eighteen Member States, fell in seven and remained stable in Denmark and Hungary. The largest decreases were observed in Estonia (12.1% to 9.5% between October 2011 and October 2012),Latvia (15.7% to 14.1% between the third quarters of 2011 and 2012), and Lithuania (13.9% to 12.5%). The highest increases were registered in Greece (18.9% to 26.0% between September 2011 and September 2012), Cyprus (9.5% to 14.0%),Spain(23.0% to 26.6%) and Portugal (14.1% to 16.3%).

Between November 2011 and November 2012, the unemployment rate for males increased from 10.4% to 11.7% in the euro area and from 9.9% to 10.8% in the EU27. The female unemployment rate rose from 10.9% to 11.8% in the euro area and from 10.1% to 10.7% in the EU27.

In November 2012, 5.799 million young persons (under 25) were unemployed in the EU27, of whom 3.733 million were in the euro area. Compared with November 2011, youth unemployment rose by 329 000 in the EU27 and by 420 000 in the euro area. In November 2012, the youth unemployment rate was 23.7% in the EU27 and 24.4% in the euro area, compared with 22.2% and 21.6% respectively in November 2011. In November 2012 the lowest rates were observed in Germany (8.1%), Austria (9.0%) and the Netherlands (9.7%), and the highest in Greece (57.6% in September 2012) and Spain (56.5%).

In November 2012, the unemployment rate was 7.8% in the USA and 4.1% in Japan.

1. The euro area (EA17) consists ofBelgium, 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).

2. Non-seasonally adjusted and trend data can be found in the statistical database on the Eurostat website.

3. 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 definitionor methodological choices.

4. Compared with the rates published in News Release 170/2012 of 30 November 2012, the October 2012 unemployment rates for the EA17 and the EU27 have not been revised. Among Member States, the rate has been revised by between 0.2 and 0.4 percentage points for Bulgaria, France, Malta and Slovakia. It has been revised upwards by 0.9 percentage points for Cyprus and by 1.1 percentage points for Slovenia. 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 November 2012.

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

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

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

For Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Ireland, Spain, France, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia and Slovakia: quarterly data up to and including Q3 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. 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.

Issued by: Eurostat Press Office Tim ALLEN Tel: [phone] [e-mail] Eurostat news releases on internet: http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat

For further information on data: Nicola MASSARELLI Tel: [phone] Hubertus VREESWIJK Tel: [phone] [e-mail]

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