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 11.1% in May 2012, compared with 11.0% in April. Eurostat, the EU statistics office said  that the rate was 10.0% in May 2011. The EU27 unemployment rate was 10.3% in May 2012, compared with 10.2% in April4. It was 9.5% in May 2011. Austria had the lowest rate at 4.1% while Ireland's rate was 14.6%.

Eurostat estimates that 24.89m men and women in the EU27, of whom 17.56m were in the Eurozone, were unemployed in May 2012. Compared with April 2012, the number of persons unemployed increased by 151,000 in the EU27 and by 88,000 in the Eurozone. Compared with May 2011, unemployment rose by 1.95m in the EU27 and by 1.820m in the Eurozone.

Among the member states, the lowest unemployment rates were recorded in Austria (4.1%), the Netherlands (5.1%), Luxembourg (5.4%) and Germany (5.6%), and the highest in Spain (24.6%) and Greece (21.9% in March 2012).

Compared with a year ago, the unemployment rate fell in eight member states, increased in eighteen, and remained stable in Hungary. The largest falls were observed in Estonia (13.6% to 10.9% between the first quarters of 2011 and 2012), Lithuania (15.7% to 13.7%) and Latvia (17.1% to 15.3% between the first quarters of 2011 and 2012). The highest increases were registered in Greece (15.7% to 21.9% between March 2011 and March 2012), Spain (20.9% to 24.6%) and Cyprus (7.5% to 10.8%).

Between May 2011 and May 2012, the unemployment rate for males increased from 9.8% to 10.9% in the euro area and from 9.5% to 10.3% in the EU27. The female unemployment rate rose from 10.3% to 11.3% in the euro area and from 9.6% to 10.4% in the EU27.

In May 2012, 5.52m young persons (under 25) were unemployed in the EU27, of whom 3.412m were in the Eurozone. Compared with May 2011, youth unemployment rose by 282 000 in the EU27 and by 254 000 in the Eurozone. In May 2012, the youth unemployment rate was 22.7% in the EU27 and 22.6% in the Eurozone. In May 2011 it was 21.0% and 20.5% respectively. The lowest rates were observed in Germany (7.9%), Austria (8.3%) and the Netherlands (9.2%), and the highest in Greece (52.1% in March 2012) and Spain (52.1%).

In May 2012, the unemployment rate was 8.2% in the USA and it was 4.4% in Japan.

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