29th May 2013

European unemployment hits new record

The statistical Office of the EU published new unemployment figures on Friday, 31 May 2013. The euro area seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate was 12.2% in April 2013, compared with 12.1% in March. The EU27 unemployment rate remained unchanged at 11.0%. Both rates have risen significantly, compared with April 2012. The EU27 unemplyment rate was 10.3% and the euro area rate was 11.2%.

Compared with April 2012, the unemployment rate rose in eighteen Member States and decreased in nine. 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%). The youth unemployment rate was 23.5% in the EU27 and 24.4% in the euro area in April 2013, 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%).

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