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Euro area seasonally-adjusted unemployment stood at 7.8% in June 2006, compared to 7.9% in May according to statistics released by Eurostat. It was 8.6% in June 2005.
The EU25 unemployment rate was 8.1% in June 2006, compared to 8.2% in May. It was 8.8% in June 2005.
In June 2006, the lowest rates were registered in the Netherlands (3.8%), Denmark (3.9%), Ireland (4.4%), and Luxembourg (4.7%). Unemployment rates were highest in Poland (16.0%), Slovakia (15.1%), Greece (9.6%), France (8.7%), and Malta (8.5%).
Amongst the Member States, seventeen recorded a fall in their unemployment rate over a year and seven reported an increase. The largest relative falls were observed in Estonia (8.0% to 4.9%), Lithuania (8.4% to 5.4%), Denmark (5.1% to 3.9%), and the Netherlands (4.8% to 3.8%).
The highest relative increases were registered in Malta (7.2% to 8.5%), the United Kingdom (4.6% in April 2005 to 5.3% in April 2006), Slovenia (6.2% to 6.5%), and Cyprus (5.4% to 5.6%).
The unemployment rate for males fell from 7.5% to 6.8% in the euro area between June 2005 and June 2006 and from 7.9% to 7.3% in the EU25. The female unemployment rate declined from 10.1% to 9.1% in the euro area and from 9.8% to 9.1% in the EU25.
In June 2006, the unemployment rate for under-25s was 16.5% in the euro area and 17.4% in the EU25. In June 2005 it was 17.4% and 18.4% respectively. The lowest rates for under-25s were observed in the Netherlands (5.8%), Denmark (7.4%), Ireland (8.1%) and Estonia (9.2% in May 2006), the highest in Poland (32.3%), Slovakia (29.7%) and Greece (26.4%).
Eurostat estimates that, in June 2006, 11.5 million men and women were unemployed in the euro area and 17.7 million in the EU25. These are seasonally-adjusted figures in line with ILO criteria. In June 2006, the US unemployment rate was 4.6% and the Japanese rate was 4.2%. |
