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| 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 12.2% in April 2013, up from 12.1% in March. The EU27
unemployment rate was 11.0%, unchanged compared with the previous month . In
both zones, rates have risen markedly compared with April 2012, when they
were 11.2% and 10.3% respectively. Meanwhile, Eurozone annual inflation is
expected to be 1.4% in May 2013, up from 1.2% in April, according to a flash
estimate.
Looking at the main components of Eurozone
inflation, food, alcohol & tobacco is expected to have the highest annual rate
in May (3.3% compared with 2.9% in April), followed by services (1.4% compared
with 1.1% in April), non-energy industrial goods (0.9% compared with 0.8%
in April) and energy (-0.2% compared with -0.4% in April).
These data are published by Eurostat, the
statistics office of the European Union.
Eurostat estimates that 26.59m men and women in
the EU27, of whom 19.37m were in the Eurozone, were unemployed in April 2013.
Compared with March 2013, the number of persons unemployed increased by 104,000
in the EU27 and by 95,000 in the Eurozone. Compared with April 2012,
unemployment rose by 1.67m in the EU27 and by 1.64m in the Eurozone.
Member States:
Among the member states, the lowest unemployment rates were
recorded in Austria (4.9%), Germany (5.4%) and Luxembourg (5.6%), and the
highest in Greece (27.0% in February 2013), Spain (26.8%) and Portugal (17.8%).
Compared with a year ago, the unemployment rate
increased in eighteen Member States and fell in nine. The highest increases were
registered in Greece (21.9% to 27.0% between February 2012 and February 2013),
Cyprus (11.2% to 15.6%), Spain (24.4% to 26.8%) and Portugal (15.4% to 17.8%).
The largest decreases were observed in Latvia (15.5% to 12.4% between the first
quarters of 2012 and 2013), Estonia (10.6% to 8.7% between March 2012 and March
2013) and Ireland (14.9% to 13.5%).
In April 2013, the unemployment rate in the
United States was 7.5%, down from 7.6% in the previous month and from 8.1% in
April 2012.
Youth unemployment: In April 2013, 5.627m
young persons (under 25) were unemployed in the EU27, of whom 3.62m were in the
Eurozone. Compared with April 2012, youth unemployment rose by 100,000 in the
EU27 and by 188,000 in the Eurozone. In April 2013, the youth unemployment rate
was 23.5% in the EU27 and 24.4% in the Eurozone, compared with 22.6% in both
zones in April 2012. In April 2013, the lowest rates were observed in Germany
(7.5%), Austria (8.0%) and the Netherlands (10.6%), and the highest in Greece
(62.5% in February 2013), Spain (56.4%), Portugal (42.5%) and Italy (40.5%).
The calculation of the youth employment rate excludes youth in full-time
education. So Spain's rate of 55.7% does not mean that more than half of
Spaniards under 25 are unemployed.
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