Euro area unemployment rate unchanged at 9.9 percent

Euro area unemployment rate unchanged at 9.9 percent

2011-07-01 19:42:59 GMT+7 (ICT)

BRUSSELS (BNO NEWS) -- The European Union's (EU) seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate in May was 9.9 percent in the 17-nation euro area, unchanged compared with April and down 0.3 percent compared to last year's 10.2 percent.

According to the EU's statistical office, Eurostat, the wider 27-nation region posted an unemployment rate of 9.3 percent in May, also unchanged compared to the previous month and 0.4 percent lower than May 2010's 9.7 percent.

The report also revealed that an estimated 22.378 million men and women in the EU27, of whom 15.510 million were in the euro area, were unemployed in May, showing a decrease of 5,000 in the EU27 and an increase of 16,000 in the euro area, compared to last month's figures. Compared with May 2010, unemployment decreased by 904,000 in the EU27 and by 551,000 in the euro area.

Among the Member States, the lowest unemployment rates were recorded in the Netherlands (4.2 percent), Austria (4.3 percent) and Luxembourg (4.5 percent), and the highest in Spain (20.9 percent), Lithuania (16.3 percent in the first quarter of the year) and Latvia (16.2 percent also in the first quarter of the year).

Compared with a year ago, the unemployment rate fell in nineteen Member States and increased in eight.

The largest falls were observed in Estonia (18.8 percent to 13.8 percent between the first quarters of 2010 and the current year), Latvia (19.9 percent to 16.2 percent between the first quarters of 2010 and this year), Germany (7.2 percent to 6.0 percent), Hungary (11.2 percent to 10 percent) and Slovakia (14.5 percent to 13.3 percent).

Meanwhile, the highest increases were registered in Greece (11.0 percent to 15.0 percent between the first quarters of 2010 and 2011), Bulgaria (10.1 percent to 11.2 percent), Cyprus (6.4 percent to 7.4 percent) and Slovenia (7.3 percent to 8.3 percent).

In the U.S., April unemployment rate was 9.1 percent, while Japan registered a 4.7 percent rate in April.

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