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).

Eurozone  (EA17) annual inflation is expected to be 2.6% in August 2012 according to a flash estimate issued by Eurostat, the statistics office of the European Union. It was 2.4% in July. The  Eurozone seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate was 11.3% in July 2012, stable compared with June. It was 10.1% in July 2011. The EU27 unemployment rate was 10.4% in July 2012, also stable compared with June. It was 9.6% in July 2011.

Eurostat estimates that 25.25m men and women in the EU27, of whom 18.00m were in the  Eurozone, were unemployed in July 2012. Compared with June 2012, the number of persons unemployed increased by 43,000 in the EU27 and by 88,000 in the  Eurozone. Compared with July 2011, unemployment rose by 2.104m in the EU27 and by 2.051m in the  Eurozone.

Among the member states, the lowest unemployment rates were recorded in Austria (4.5%), the Netherlands (5.3%), Germany and Luxembourg (both 5.5%), and the highest in Spain (25.1%) and Greece (23.1% in May 2012).

Compared with a year ago, the unemployment rate fell in ten member states, increased in sixteen and remained stable in Slovenia. The largest falls were observed in Estonia (13.2% to 10.1% between the second quarters of 2011 and 2012), Lithuania (15.2% to 13.0%) and Latvia (17.0% to 15.9% between the second quarters of 2011 and 2012). The highest increases were registered in Greece (16.8% to 23.1% between May 2011 and May 2012), Spain (21.7% to 25.1%) and Cyprus (7.7% to 10.9%).

Between July 2011 and July 2012, the unemployment rate for males increased from 9.8% to 11.3% in the  Eurozone and from 9.5% to 10.5% in the EU27. The female unemployment rate rose from 10.4% to 11.4% in the  Eurozone and from 9.8% to 10.4% in the EU27.

In July 2012, 5.47m young persons (under 25) were unemployed in the EU27, of whom 3.388m were in the  Eurozone. Compared with July 2011, youth unemployment rose by 182 000 in the EU27 and by 204 000 in the  Eurozone. In July 2012, the youth unemployment rate was 22.5% in the EU27 and 22.6% in the  Eurozone. In July 2011, it was 21.3% and 20.7% respectively. In July 2012 the lowest rates were observed in Germany (8.0%), Austria (8.9%) and the Netherlands (9.2%), and the highest in Greece (53.8% in May 2012) and Spain (52.9%). In July 2012, the unemployment rate was 8.3% in the USA. In June 2012, the unemployment rate was 4.3% in Japan.

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