The Eurozone (EA17) consists of Belgium, Germany, Estonia, 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).

The Eurozone (EA17) seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate was 9.9% in May 2011, unchanged compared with April4. 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. The Netherlands was the lowest at 4.2%, Austria was at 4.3%, Ireland 14% and Spain 20%.

Eurostat estimates that 22.3m men and women in the EU27, of whom 15.51m were in the Eurozone, were unemployed in May 2011. Compared with April 2011, the number of persons unemployed fell by 5 000 in the EU27 and increased by 16 000 in the Eurozone. Compared with May 20105, unemployment decreased by 904 000 in the EU27 and by 551 000 in the Eurozone.

These figures are published by Eurostat, the statistics office of the European Union.

Among the 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).

Ireland's rate was 14%.

Compared with a year ago, the unemployment rate fell in nineteen member states and increased in eight. The largest falls were observed 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 males fell from 10.1% to 9.6% in the Eurozone and from 9.8% to 9.2% in the EU27. The female unemployment rate decreased from 10.4% to 10.2% in the Eurozone and from 9.6% to 9.5% in the EU27.

In May 2011, the youth unemployment rate (under-25s) was 20.0% in the Eurozone and 20.4% in the EU27. In May 2010 it was 21.2% in both zones. The lowest rates were observed in the Netherlands (6.9%), Germany (7.7%) and Austria (9.1%), and the highest in Spain (44.4%), Greece (38.5% in the first quarter of 2011), Slovakia (33.7%) and Lithuania (32.9% in the first quarter of 2011).

In May 2011, the unemployment rate was 9.1% in the US. In April 2011, it was 4.7% in Japan.