Eurozone unemployment reaches 12.2%

European Union rate at 11.0%

The euro area, comprised of seventeen countries, seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate was 12.2% in April 2013, up from 12.1% in March. The EU27, comprising the members of the European Union, 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. The figures were published by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union. Eurostat estimates that 26.588 million men and women in the EU27, of whom 19.375 million were in the euro area, 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 euro area. Compared with April 2012, unemployment rose by 1.673 million in the EU27 and by 1.644 million in the euro area.
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.

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