The Eurozone¹ (EA15) seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate² stood at 7.7% in October 2008, compared with 7.6% in September³. It was 7.3% in October 2007. The EU27¹ unemployment rate was 7.1% in October 2008, compared with 7.0% in September³. It was 6.9% in October 2007. Employment was lowest in the Netherlands at 2.5% and highest in Spain at 12.8%. Ireland's rate was 7.1%.

Eurostat estimates that 17.183 million men and women in the EU27, of which 12.003 million were in the Eurozone, were unemployed in October 2008. Compared with September 2008, the number of persons unemployed increased by 290,000 in the EU27 and by 225 000 in the Eurozone. Compared with October 2007, unemployment went up by 709,000 in the EU27 and by 810,000 in the Eurozone.

These figures are published by Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Union.

Among the Member States, the lowest unemployment rates were recorded in theNetherlands (2.5%), Austria (3.0%) and Denmark (3.2%), and the highest in Spain (12.8%) and Slovakia (10.0%).

Compared with a year ago, fifteen Member States recorded a fall in their unemployment rate, eleven an increase and the rate remained stable in one. The largest falls were observed in Poland (8.7% to 6.4%) and Austria (4.3% to 3.0%), and the highest increases in Spain (8.5% to 12.8%) and Estonia (4.1% to 7.5%). Ireland's rate jumped from 4.7% to 7.1%.

The unemployment rate for males increased from 6.5% to 7.2% between October 2007 and October 2008 in the Eurozone and from 6.4% to 6.8% in the EU27. The female unemployment rate increased from 8.2% to 8.3% in the Eurozone but declined from 7.6% to 7.5% in the EU27.

In October 2008, the youth unemployment rate (under-25s) was 15.9% in both the Eurozone and the EU27. In October 2007 it was 14.6% and 14.9% respectively. The lowest rates were observed in the Netherlands (5.1%) and Austria (5.4%), and the highest in Spain (28.1%) and Sweden (22.4%).

The unemployment rate was 6.5% in the USA in October 2008 and 4.0% in Japan in September 2008. 

1. The Eurozone (EA15) consists of Belgium, Germany, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Italy, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Austria, Portugal, Slovenia 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).

1. Eurostat produces harmonised unemployment rates for individual EU Member States, the Eurozone 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 and unemployed.

The numbers of unemployed and the monthly unemployment rates are estimates based on results of the LFS which is a continuous household survey carried out in all countries on the basis of agreed 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 Labour Force Survey 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 national Labour Force Surveys or corresponding surveys. These rates may vary from those published by Eurostat due to different definition or methodological choices.

Current deviations from the definition of unemployment in the EU Labour Force Survey:

Spain, Italy, and United Kingdom: Unemployment is restricted to persons aged 16-74. In Spain and Italy the legal age limit for working is 16.

Netherlands: Persons without a job, who are available for work and looking for a job are only included in unemployment if they express that they would like to work.

1. The September 2008 unemployment rate for the Eurozone has been revised. The rate published in News Release 152/2008 of 31 October 2008 was 7.5%. The rate published for the EU27 remains unchanged. The monthly unemployment rate has been revised by more than 0.1 percentage points for Estonia, Spain, Portugal and Sweden, with a particularly large revision of the Estonian data. The revisions are primarily caused by the inclusion of the most recent EU Labour Force Survey data in the calculation process.

The following LFS data are used in the calculations of the monthly unemployment rates published in this News Release:
For Germany, Finland and Sweden up to and including October 2008.
For the Netherlands up to and including August-September-October 2008 (3-month rolling average).
For the United Kingdom up to and including July-August-September 2008 (3-month rolling average).

For Estonia, Spain and Portugal up to and including 2008Q3.

For Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Ireland, Greece, France, Italy, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Hungary, Malta, Austria, Poland, Romania, Slovenia and Slovakia up to and including 2008Q2.

1. Provisional data: the Swedish Labour Force Survey was amended in April 2005 to take further account of the EU harmonised methodology. This break in the series may affect the reliability of the seasonal adjustment.
2. Greece, Italy and Romania: quarterly data for all series.

Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania and Slovenia: quarterly data for youth unemployment.

SEASONALLY ADJUSTED UNEMPLOYMENT RATES (%)

TOTALS

: Data not available Source: Eurostat