Eurozone annual inflation is expected to be -0.6% in July 2009 according to a flash estimate issued today by Eurostat. the EU statistics office. It was -0.1% in June. Eurostat also reported that the Eurozone (EA16) seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate was 9.4% in June 2009, compared with 9.3% in May. It was 7.5% in June 2008. June's rate is the highest rate since June 1999.

Computation of flash estimates

Eurozone inflation is measured by the Monetary Union Index of Consumer Prices (MUICP). To compute the MUICP flash estimates, Eurostat uses early price information relating to the reference month from Member States for which data are available4 as well as early information about energy prices.

The flash estimation procedure for the MUICP combines historical information with partial information on price developments in the most recent months to give a total index for the Eurozone. No detailed breakdown is available. Experience has shown the procedure to be reliable (18 times exactly anticipating the inflation rate and 6 times differing by 0.1 over the last two years)

Eurozone unemployment up to 9.4%; EU27 up to 8.9%

The Eurozone (EA16) seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate was 9.4% in June 2009, compared with 9.3% in May. It was 7.5% in June 2008. The EU27 unemployment rate was 8.9% in June 2009, compared with 8.8% in May. It was 6.9% in June 2008. For the Eurozone this is the highest rate since June 1999 and for the EU27 since June 2005.

Eurostat estimates that 21.526 million men and women in the EU27, of which 14.896 million were in the Eurozone, were unemployed in June 2009. Compared with May, the number of persons unemployed increased by 246 000 in the EU27 and by 158 000 in the Eurozone. Compared with June 2008, unemployment went up by 5.024 million in the EU27 and by 3.170 million in the Eurozone.

Among the Member States, the lowest unemployment rates were recorded in the Netherlands (3.3%) and Austria (4.4%), and the highest rates in Spain (18.1%), Latvia (17.2%) and Estonia (17.0%).  Ireland's rate was 12.2%.

Compared with a year ago, all Member States recorded an increase in their unemployment rate. The smallest increases were observed in Germany (7.3% to 7.7%), Romania (5.7% to 6.2% between the first quarters of 2008 and 2009) and the Netherlands (2.7% to 3.3%). The highest increases were registered in Estonia (4.6% to 17.0%), Latvia (6.4% to 17.2%) and Lithuania (5.1% to 15.8%).

Between June 2008 and June 2009, the unemployment rate for males rose from 6.8% to 9.2% in the Eurozone and from 6.5% to 9.0% in the EU27. The female unemployment rate increased from 8.3% to 9.7% in the Eurozone and from 7.4% to 8.9% in the EU27.
In June 2009, the youth unemployment rate (under-25s) was 19.5% in the Eurozone and 19.6% in the EU27. In June 2008 it was 15.2% and 15.1% respectively. The lowest rate was observed in the Netherlands (6.3%), and the highest rates in Spain (36.5%) and Lithuania (31.0% in the second quarter of 2009).

The unemployment rate was 9.5% in the USA in June 2009. In Japan it was 5.2% in May 2009.

Tables

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).