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 annual inflation is expected to be 2.2% in November 2012, down from 2.5% in October according to a flash estimate from Eurostat, the statistics office of the European Union. Meanwhile, unemployment rose to teh highest in October since the euro was launched in 1999.

Looking at the main components of Eurozone inflation, energy (5.8% compared with 8.0% in October) is expected to have the highest annual rate in November, followed by food, alcohol & tobacco (3.0% compared with 3.1%), services (1.7%, stable compared with October) and non-energy industrial goods (1.1%, stable compared with October).

The Eurozone (EA17) seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate was 11.7% in October 2012, up from 11.6% in September. The EU27 unemployment rate was 10.7% in October 2012, up from 10.6% in September. In both zones, rates have risen markedly compared with October 2011, when they were 10.4% and 9.9% respectively.

Eurostat estimates that 25.91m men and women in the EU27, of whom 18.70m were in the Eurozone,  were unemployed in October 2012. Compared with September 2012, the number of persons unemployed increased by 204 000 in the EU27 and by 173 000 in the Eurozone. Compared with October 2011, unemployment rose by 2.16m in the EU27 and by 2.17m in the Eurozone. Among the member states, the lowest unemployment rates were recorded in Austria (4.3%), Luxembourg (5.1%), Germany (5.4%) and the Netherlands (5.5%), and the highest in Spain (26.2%) and Greece (25.4% in August 2012).

Ireland's rate was 15%.

Compared with a year ago, the unemployment rate increased in sixteen Member States, fell in nine and remained stable in Austria and Slovenia. The largest decreases were observed in Estonia (11.5% to 9.6% between September 2011 and September 2012), Lithuania (14.2% to 12.4%) and Latvia (15.7% to 14.2% between the third quarters of 2011 and 2012). The highest increases were registered in Greece (18.4% to 25.4% between August 2011 and August 2012), Cyprus (9.2% to 12.9%), Spain (22.7% to 26.2%) and Portugal (13.7% to 16.3%).

Between October 2011 and October 2012, the unemployment rate for males increased from 10.3% to 11.6% in the Eurozone and from 9.8% to 10.7% in the EU27. The female unemployment rate rose from 10.7% to 11.8% in the Eurozone and from 10.0% to 10.7% in the EU27.

In October 2012, 5.68m young persons (under 25) were unemployed in the EU27, of whom 3.61m were in the Eurozone. Compared with October 2011, youth unemployment rose by 279,000 in the EU27 and by 350,000 in the Eurozone. In October 2012, the youth unemployment rate was 23.4% in the EU27 and 23.9% in the Eurozone, compared with 21.9% and 21.2% respectively in October 2011. In October 2012 the lowest rates were observed in Germany (8.1%), Austria (8.5%) and the Netherlands (9.8%) and the highest in Greece (57.0% in August 2012) and Spain (55.9%)

Euro on Respirator: Claims of glimmers of light; Is youth unemployment as bad as it seems?

In October 2012, the unemployment rate was 7.9% in the USA. In Japan it was 4.2% in September 2012.

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