Fri, Feb 10 2012

Euro area unemployment highest since May 1999

Thu, Jul 02 2009 13:31 CET

byClive Leviev-Sawyer

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Euro area unemployment highest since May 1999

The euro area seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate was 9.5 per cent in May 2009, compared with 9.3 per cent in April, European statistical office Eurostat said on July 2 2009. It was 7.4 per cent in May 2008.
 
The EU27 unemployment rate was 8.9 per cent in May 2009, compared with 8.7 per cent in April. Spain, Latvia and Estonia had the most people out of work. Unemployment in the 27 EU member states was 6.8 per cent in May 2008.
 
For the euro area, this is the highest rate since May 1999 and for the EU27 since June 2005.
 
Eurostat estimates that 21.462 million men and women in the EU27, of which 15.013 million were in the euro area , were unemployed in May 2009.
 
Compared with April, the number of people unemployed increased by 385 000 in the EU27 and by 273 000 in the euro area .
 
Compared with May 2008, unemployment went up by 5.111 million in the EU27 and by 3.4 million in the euro area .
 
Among EU member states, the lowest unemployment rates were recorded in the Netherlands (3.2 per cent) and Austria (4.3 per cent), and the highest rates in Spain (18.7 per cent), Latvia (16.3 per cent) and Estonia (15.6 per cent).
 
Compared with a year ago, all EU member states recorded an increase in their unemployment rate.
 
The lowest increases were observed in Germany (7.4 per cent to 7.7 per cent) and the Netherlands (2.8 per cent to 3.2 per cent). The highest increases were registered in Estonia (3.9 per cent to 15.6 per cent), Latvia (6.1 per cent to 16.3 per cent) and Lithuania (4.7 per cent to 14.3 per cent).
Between May 2008 and May 2009, the unemployment rate for men rose from 6.7 per cent to 9.3 per cent in the euro area and from 6.4 per cent to 8.9 per cent in the EU27 .
 
Unemployment among women increased from 8.2 per cent to 9.7 per cent in the euro area and from 7.4 per cent to 8.9 per cent in the EU27 .
 
In May 2009, the youth unemployment rate (under-25s) was 19.6 per cent in the euro area and 19.5 per cent in the EU27 . In May 2008 it was 15 per cent in both zones.
 
The lowest rate was in the Netherlands (6.6 per cent), and the highest rates in Spain (36.9 per cent) and Latvia (28.2 per cent in the first quarter of 2009).
In May 2009, the unemployment rate was 9.4 per cent in the United States and 5.2 per cent in Japan .
 

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