EUROSTAT European Union Statistical Office : Euro area unemployment at 9.6%

22/2017 - 31 January 2017

December 2016

Euro area unemployment at 9.6%

EU28 at 8.2%

The euro area (EA19) seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate was 9.6% in December 2016, down from 9.7% in November 2016 and down from 10.5% in December 2015. This is the lowest rate recorded in the euro area since May 2009. The EU28 unemployment rate was 8.2% in December 2016, stable compared to November 2016 and down from 9.0% in December 2015. This remains the lowest rate recorded in the EU28 since February 2009. These figures are published by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.

Eurostat estimates that 20.065 million men and women in the EU28, of whom 15.571 million were in the euro area, were unemployed in December 2016. Compared with November 2016, the number of persons unemployed decreased by 159 000 in the EU28 and by 121 000 in the euro area. Compared with December 2015, unemployment fell by 1.839 million in the EU28 and by 1.256 million in the euro area.

Member States

Among the Member States, the lowest unemployment rates in December 2016 were recorded in the Czech Republic (3.5%) and Germany (3.9%). The highest unemployment rates were observed in Greece (23.0% in October 2016) and Spain (18.4%).

Compared with a year ago, the unemployment rate in December 2016 fell in twenty-four Member States, while it increased in Cyprus (from 13.1% to 14.3%), Italy (from 11.6% to 12.0%), Estonia (from 6.6% to 6.7% between November 2015 and November 2016) and Denmark (from 6.1% to 6.2%). The largest decreases were registered in Croatia (from 15.0% to 11.4%), Spain (from 20.7% to 18.4%) and Portugal (from 12.2% to 10.2%).

11.4 12.0

% 10

5.4 5.5 5.7 5.9

6.2 6.3 6.7

6.9 7.1 7.2 7.5 7.6 8.1 8.2

8.7 8.8 9.6 9.6 9.8

10.2

5

3.5 3.9 4.5 4.5 4.8

* October 2016 ** November 2016

Czech Republic

Germany Hungary**

Malta UK* Netherlands Romania Austria Poland Denmark Luxembourg Estonia** Sweden Bulgaria Ireland Slovenia Belgium Lithuania

EU28

Finland

Slovakia

EA19

France Latvia Portugal Croatia

Italy Cyprus Spain

Greece*

In December 2016, the unemployment rate in the United States was 4.7%, up from 4.6% in November 2016 but down from 5.0% in December 2015.

25

Unemployment rates in December 2016, seasonally adjusted

23.0

20

18.4

15

14.3

0

Youth unemployment

In December 2016, 4.219 million young persons (under 25) were unemployed in the EU28, of whom 2.957 million were in the euro area. Compared with December 2015, youth unemployment decreased by 196 000 in the EU28 and by 88 000 in the euro area. In December 2016, the youth unemployment rate was 18.6% in the EU28 and 20.9% in the euro area, compared with 19.5% and 21.8% respectively in December 2015. In December 2016, the lowest rate was observed in Germany (6.5%), while the highest were recorded in Greece (44.2% in October 2016), Spain (42.9%) and Italy (40.1%).

Geographical information

The euro area (EA19) includes Belgium, Germany, Estonia, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Italy, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Austria, Portugal, Slovenia, Slovakia and Finland.

The European Union (EU28) includes Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Croatia, Italy, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Hungary, Malta, the Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Finland, Sweden and the United Kingdom.

Methods and definition

Eurostat produces harmonised unemployment rates for individual EU Member States, the euro area and the EU. These unemployment rates are based on the definition recommended by the International Labour Organisation (ILO). The measurement is based on a harmonised source, the European Union Labour Force Survey (LFS).

Based on the ILO definition, Eurostat defines unemployed persons as persons aged 15 to 74 who:

• are without work;

• are available to start work within the next two weeks;

• and have actively sought employment at some time during the previous four weeks.

The unemployment rate is the number of people unemployed as a percentage of the labour force.

The labour force is the total number of people employed plus unemployed. In this news release unemployment rates are based on employment and unemployment data covering persons aged 15 to 74.

The youth unemployment rate is the number of people aged 15 to 24 unemployed as a percentage of the labour force of the same age. Therefore, the youth unemployment rate should not be interpreted as the share of jobless people in the overal l youth population.

When data for the most recent month are not available for a Member State, EU and EA aggregates are calculated using the latest data available for that Member State.

Country notes

Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, Finland, Sweden and Iceland: the trend component is used instead of the more volatile seasonally adjusted data.

Denmark, Estonia, Hungary, Portugal, the United Kingdom and Norway: 3-month moving averages of LFS data are used instead of pure monthly indicators.

Revisions and timetable

The data in this News Release can be subject to revisions, caused by updates to the seasonally adjusted series whenever new monthly data are added; the inclusion of the most recent LFS data in the calculation process; update of seasonal adjustment models with complete annual data.

Compared with the rates published in News Release 4/2017 of 9 January 2017, the November 2016 unemployment rate has been revised downwards for both the EU28 (from 8.3% to 8.2%) and the EA19 (from 9.8% to 9.7%). Among Member States, rates have been revised by more than 0.1 percentage points (pp) downwards for Spain (by 0.5 pp), Denmark, Germany, Estonia (October data) and Malta (all four by 0.2 pp).

For more information

Eurostat website section on employment and unemployment

Eurostat database section on unemployment, including non-seasonally adjusted and trend data Eurostat Statistics Explained article on unemployment

Eurostat Statistics Explained article on youth unemployment Eurostat metadata on adjusted unemployment series Eurostat €-indicators release calendar

Issued by: Eurostat Press Office

Vincent BOURGEAIS Tel: [phone]

[e-mail]

ec.europa.eu/eurostat/

@EU_Eurostat

For further information on data:

Boyan GENEV Tel: [phone] Hubertus VREESWIJK Tel: [phone]

[e-mail]

Media requests: Eurostat media support / Tel: [phone] / [e-mail] Euro area and EU28 unemployment rates

Seasonally adjusted series

Euro area (EA19) EU28

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Seasonally adjusted unemployment, totals

Rates (%)					Number of persons (in thousands)
Dec 15	Sep 16	Oct 16	Nov 16	Dec 16	Dec 15	Sep 16	Oct 16	Nov 16	Dec 16
EA19	10.5	9.8	9.7	9.7	9.6	16 827	16 000	15 766	15 692	15 571
EU28	9.0	8.4	8.3	8.2	8.2	21 904	20 577	20 333	20 224	20 065
Belgium	8.6	7.6	7.6	7.6	7.6	428	378	375	376	377
Bulgaria	7.9	7.3	7.2	7.1	7.1	263	237	234	231	231
Czech Republic	4.5	3.9	3.7	3.6	3.5	236	206	198	194	189
Denmark	6.1	6.5	6.5	6.3	6.2	181	198	197	192	187
Germany	4.4	4.1	4.0	3.9	3.9	1 882	1 767	1 738	1 707	1 679
Estonia	6.6**	7.2	7.2	6.7	:	45**	50	50	46	:
Ireland	8.9	7.7	7.5	7.3	7.2	193	167	164	161	158
Greece	24.5*	23.1	23.0	:	:	1 183*	1 110	1 102	:	:
Spain	20.7	19.1	18.9	18.7	18.4	4 737	4 360	4 291	4 251	4 179
France	10.2	9.9	9.7	9.5	9.6	3 005	2 921	2 853	2 809	2 817
Croatia	15.0	11.5	11.5	11.4	11.4	281	209	209	208	206
Italy	11.6	11.8	11.8	12.0	12.0	2 959	3 051	3 033	3 094	3 103
Cyprus	13.1	13.4	13.8	14.2	14.3	54	57	59	62	62
Latvia	10.0	9.7	9.6	9.6	9.8	99	95	94	95	96
Lithuania	8.9	7.6	7.6	7.9	8.1	131	111	112	117	119
Luxembourg	6.5	6.3	6.3	6.2	6.3	18	17	17	17	18
Hungary	6.3**	4.8	4.6	4.5	:	285**	222	212	208	:
Malta	5.1	4.7	4.8	4.6	4.5	10	9	10	9	9
Netherlands	6.6	5.7	5.6	5.6	5.4	588	510	502	499	482
Austria	6.0	6.0	5.8	5.7	5.7	268	271	261	255	254
Poland	6.9	6.2	6.1	6.0	5.9	1 196	1 054	1 045	1 028	1 012
Portugal	12.2	10.9	10.6	10.5	10.2	622	557	545	538	520
Romania	6.7	5.8	5.8	5.7	5.5	616	522	522	521	507
Slovenia	8.4	7.7	7.6	7.6	7.5	83	75	74	74	73
Slovakia	10.7	9.4	9.2	9.0	8.8	293	259	252	247	243
Finland	9.3	8.7	8.7	8.7	8.7	250	233	233	234	234
Sweden	7.1	6.9	6.9	6.9	6.9	370	365	364	365	365
United Kingdom	5*	4.8	4.8	:	:	1 657*	1 576	1 586	:	:
Iceland	3.3	2.9	2.9	2.8	2.8	6	6	6	6	6
Norway	4.6**	4.8	4.8	4.7	:	128**	135	132	130	:
United States	5.0	4.9	4.8	4.6	4.7	7 918	7 933	7 751	7 461	7 520

The source datasets are available here (rates) and here (in 1000 persons).

: Data not available * October 2015 ** November 2015