Brussels, 01/07/2011 (Agence Europe) - The euro area seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate was 9.9% in May 2011, unchanged compared with April. It was 10.2% in May 2010. The EU27 unemployment rate was 9.3% in May 2011, unchanged compared with April. It was 9.7% in May 2010. In May 2011, 22.378 million men and women were unemployed in the EU27, with 15.510 million in the euro area. Compared with April 2011, the number of persons unemployed fell by 5,000 in the EU27 and increased by 16,000 in the euro area. These figures were published by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, on 1st July.
Among member states: the lowest unemployment rates were recorded in the Netherlands (4.2%), Austria (4.3%) and Luxembourg (4.5%), and the highest in Spain (20.9%), Lithuania (16.3% in the first quarter of 2011) and Latvia (16.2% in the first quarter of 2011).
Compared with a year ago: the unemployment rate fell in 19 member states and rose in eight. The largest falls were in Estonia (18.8% to 13.8% between the first quarters of 2010 and 2011), Latvia (19.9% to 16.2% between the first quarters of 2010 and 2011), Germany (7.2% to 6.0%), Hungary (11.2% to 10.0%) and Slovakia (14.5% to 13.3%). The highest increases were registered in Greece (11.0% to 15.0% between the first quarters of 2010 and 2011), Bulgaria (10.1% to 11.2%), Cyprus (6.4% to 7.4%) and Slovenia (7.3% to 8.3%).
Between May 2010 and May 2011, the unemployment rate for men fell from 10.1% to 9.6% in the euro area and from 9.8% to 9.2% in the EU27. The unemployment rate for women declined from 10.4% to 10.2% in the euro area and from 9.6% to 9.5% in the EU27. In May 2011, the youth unemployment rate was 20.0% in the euro area and 20.4% in the EU27. In May 2010 it was 21.2% in both zones. Eurostat notes to that, in May 2011, the unemployment rate was 9.1% in the USA. In April 2011, it was 4.7% in Japan. (G.B./transl.rt)