Leadership

15 million unemployed in Eurozone

02.07.2009
Unemployment in the eurozone rose to 9.5pc in May, its highest level in 10 years, new figures released today by the EU have shown.

Figures from Eurostat, the statistical arm of the European Commission, revealed that the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in the eurozone increased from 9.3pc in April to 9.5pc in May. This represents a significant jump on the unemployment rate of May 2008, which stood at 6.8pc.

A eurozone unemployment rate of 9.5pc means 15 million people were unemployed in the region in May 2009. Compared with April, the number of people unemployed increased by 273,000. On an annual basis, unemployment in the eurozone has now increased by 3.4 million people since May 2008.

The unemployment rate in the EU 27 stood at 8.9pc in May, up from the 8.7pc registered in April, the Eurostat figures showed. Unemployment now stands at its highest rate in the EU 27 since June 2005.

Among the member states, the lowest unemployment rates were recorded in the Netherlands (3.2pc) and Austria (4.3pc), and the highest rates in Spain (18.7pc), Latvia (16.3pc) and Estonia (15.6pc). Ireland’s unemployment rate, according to the EU, stands somewhere between these two extremes at 11.7pc.

Compared with a year ago, all member states recorded an increase in their unemployment rate, Eurostat said. The lowest increases were observed in Germany (7.4pc to 7.7pc) and the Netherlands (2.8pc to 3.2pc), with the highest increases registered in Estonia (3.9pc to 15.6pc), Latvia (6.1pc to 16.3pc) and Lithuania (4.7pc to 14.3pc).

In terms of international comparisons the eurozone unemployment rate of 9.5pc, which was just over the 9.4pc expected by economists polled by Reuters, is slightly over that of the US, which stands at 9.4pc, but is significantly higher than Japan’s (5.2pc).