The Eurozone (EA16) seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate was 9.5% in May 2009, compared with 9.3% in April. It was 7.4% in May 2008. The EU27 unemployment rate was 8.9% in May 2009, compared with 8.7% in April. It was 6.8% in May 2008. For the Eurozone this is the highest rate since May 1999 and for the EU27 since June 2005 according to Eurostat, the statistics office of the EU.

Eurostat estimates that 21.462 million men and women in the EU27, of which 15.013 million were in the Eurozone, were unemployed in May 2009. Compared with April, the number of persons unemployed increased by 385 000 in the EU27 and by 273 000 in the Eurozone. Compared with May 2008, unemployment went up by 5.111 million in the EU27 and by 3.400 million in the Eurozone.

The Financial Times reported this week that In Germany, 1.25 million were on short-time working in March against 3.45 million unemployed. About a third less time is being worked, so authorities reckon that without short-time the unemployment figure would be close to 4m; 200,000 workers were on a similar scheme in France in the first quarter compared with 3.7 million unemployed.

Employers in the UK, for one, say something fundamental has changed. "There has been a remarkable solidarity of employers and their employees during this recession in taking difficult decisions," says John Cridland of the CBI employers' group. A CBI survey showed nearly two-thirds of employers were introducing changes such as flexible working hours, extended shutdowns, extra holidays or cuts in paid overtime - in addition to widespread pay freezes - - as they struggle to retain skilled employees they will need in an upturn.

Among the EU Member States, the lowest unemployment rates were recorded in the Netherlands (3.2%), Austria (4.3%) and Denmark 5.7% and the highest rates in Spain (18.7%), Latvia (16.3%) and Estonia (15.6%).

Ireland's rate was 12% in May.

Compared with a year ago, all Member States recorded an increase in their unemployment rate. The lowest increases were observed in Germany (7.4% to 7.7%) and the Netherlands (2.8% to 3.2%). The highest increases were registered in Estonia (3.9% to 15.6%), Latvia (6.1% to 16.3%) and Lithuania (4.7% to 14.3%).

Between May 2008 and May 2009, the unemployment rate for males rose from 6.7% to 9.3% in the Eurozone and from 6.4% to 8.9% in the EU27. The female unemployment rate increased from 8.2% to 9.7% in the Eurozone and from 7.4% to 8.9% in the EU27.

In May 2009, the youth unemployment rate (under-25s) was 19.6% in the Eurozone and 19.5% in the EU27. In May 2008 it was 15.0% in both zones. The lowest rate was observed in the Netherlands (6.6%), and the highest rates in Spain (36.9%) and Latvia (28.2% in the first quarter of 2009).

In May 2009, the unemployment rate was 9.4% in the USA and 5.2% in Japan.

The Eurozone (EA16) consists of Belgium, Germany, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Italy, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Austria, Portugal, Slovenia, Slovakia 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).

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