Eurozone unemployment rate at 12.2%, EU-28 at 11.0%

The eurozone (EA-17) seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 12.2% in September 2013, stable compared with August. The EU-28 unemployment rate was 11.0%, also stable compared with August. In both zones, rates have risen compared with September 2012, when they were 11.6% and 10.6% respectively. These figures are published by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.

In September 2013, 26.872 million men and women were unemployed in the EU-28, of whom 19.447 million were in the eurozone. Compared with August 2013, the number of persons unemployed went up by 61,000 in the EU-28 and by 60,000 in the eurozone. Compared with September 2012, unemployment rose by 978,000 in the EU28 and by 996,000 in the eurozone.

Member states

Among the member states, the lowest unemployment rates were recorded in Austria (4.9%), Germany (5.2%) and Luxembourg (5.9%), and the highest in Greece (27.6% in July 2013) and Spain (26.6%).

Compared with a year ago, the unemployment rate increased in sixteen member states, fell in eleven and remained stable in the Czech Republic. The highest increases were registered in Cyprus (12.7% to 17.1%) and Greece (25.0% to 27.6% between July 2012 and July 2013). The largest decreases were observed in Latvia (15.6% to 11.3% between the second quarters of 2012 and 2013) and Estonia (10.0% to 8.3% between August 2012 and August 2013).

In September 2013, the unemployment rate in the United States was 7.2%, down from 7.3% in August 2013 and from 7.8% in September 2012.

In September 2013, 5.584 million young persons (under 25) were unemployed in the EU28, of whom 3.548 million were in the eurozone. Compared with September 2012 youth unemployment decreased by 57,000 in the EU28, but increased by 8,000 in the eurozone. In September 2013, the youth unemployment rate5 was 23.5% in the EU28 and 24.1% in the euro area, compared with 23.1% and 23.6% respectively in September 2012. In September 2013, the lowest rates were observed in Germany (7.7%) and Austria (8.7%), and the highest in Greece (57.3% in July 2013), Spain (56.5%) and Croatia (52.8% in the third quarter of 2013).

1. The eurozone (EA-17) consists of Belgium, Germany, Estonia, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Italy, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Austria, Portugal, Slovenia, Slovakia and Finland.

The EU28 includes Belgium (BE), Bulgaria (BG), the Czech Republic (CZ), Denmark (DK), Germany (DE), Estonia (EE), Ireland (IE), Greece (EL), Spain (ES), France (FR), Croatia (HR), 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).

The tables also include Iceland (IS), Norway (NO) and the United States (US).

2. Non-seasonally adjusted and trend data can be found in the statistical database on the Eurostat website. For further details, please refer to the Unemployment statistics article in Statistics Explained.

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;

- 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.

1. The data in this News Release are normally subject to small revisions, caused by the updates to the seasonally adjusted series whenever new monthly data are added. Larger revisions can occur when the most recent LFS data are included in the calculation process. Compared with the rates published in News Release 140/2013 of 1 October 2013, the August 2013 unemployment rates were revised from 12.0% to 12.2% for the EA17 and from 10.9% to 11.0% for the EU28. Among member states, the rate has been revised by between 0.2 and 0.4 percentage points for Greece (for July 2013), Spain and Italy. For Denmark the rate has been revised upwards by 0.5 percentage points. This revision is also due to the use, starting from this month, of direct monthly estimates from the LFS. Over the period January 2007 - August 2013 revisions for Denmark range between -0.4 and +0.5 percentage points. The average absolute revision over that period amounts to 0.1 percentage points.
2. The youth unemployment rate is the number of people aged 15 to 24 unemployed as a percentage of the labour force of the same age. Therefore, the youth unemployment rate should not be interpreted as the share of jobless people in the overall youth population. For further details please refer to the youth unemployment article in Statistics Explained.

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