The Eurozone (EA16) seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate was 9.7% in September 2009, compared with 9.6% in August. It was 7.7% in September 2008. The lowest rates was 3.6% in the Netherlands; highest in Latvia at 19.7% and Ireland was at 13%.
The EU27 unemployment rate was 9.2% in September 2009, compared with 9.1% in August3. It was 7.1% in September 2008. For the Eurozone this is the highest rate since January 1999 and for the EU27 since the start of the series in January 2000.
In Europe, public subsidised part-time work has kept the rate down.
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) says more than 20, mainly European, countries have introduced or expanded short-time working schemes during the current downturn.
SEE: Finfacts article, Oct 28, 2009: Eurozone labour market has held up much better than its US counterpart in the Great Recession
Eurostat, the EU statistics office, estimates that 22.12 million men and women in the EU27, of which 15.32 million were in the Eurozone, were unemployed in September 2009. Compared with August, the number of persons unemployed increased by 286,000 in the EU27 and by 184,000 in the Eurozone. Compared with September 2008, unemployment went up by 5.01 million in the EU27 and by 3.20 million in the Eurozone.
The lowest unemployment rates were recorded in the Netherlands (3.6%) and Austria (4.8%), and the highest rates in Latvia (19.7%) and Spain (19.3%).
Ireland's rate was 13%.
Compared with a year ago, all Member States recorded an increase in their unemployment rate.
The smallest increases were observed in Germany (7.1% to 7.6%), Italy (6.8% to 7.4% between the second quarters of 2008 and 2009) and Belgium (7.3% to 7.9%). The highest increases were registered in Latvia (8.1% to 19.7%) and Estonia (4.1% to 13.3% between the second quarters of 2008 and 2009).
Between September 2008 and September 2009, the unemployment rate for males rose from 7.1% to 9.6% in the Eurozone and from 6.8% to 9.3% in the EU27. The female unemployment rate increased from 8.4% to 9.8% in the Eurozone and from 7.5% to 9.0% in the EU27.
In September 2009, the youth unemployment rate (under-25s) was 20.1% in the Eurozone and 20.2% in the EU27. In September 2008 it was 15.7% and 15.8% respectively. The lowest rate was observed in the Netherlands (6.8%), and the highest rates in Spain (41.7%) and Latvia (33.6% in the third quarter of 2009).
The unemployment rate was 9.8% in the US in September 2009. In Japan it was 5.5% in August 2009.
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).
