EU27 unemployment falls to 6.8%

Euro area (EA13) seasonally-adjusted unemployment stood at 6.9 per cent in July 2007, unchanged compared to June3. It was 7.8 per cent in July 2006. The EU27 unemployment rate was 6.8 per cent in July 2007, compared with 6.9 per cent in June. It was 7.9 per cent in July 2006.

In July 2007, the lowest rates were registered in Denmark (3.2 per cent), the Netherlands (3.4 per cent) Cyprus (4.1 per cent) and Austria (4.3 per cent). Unemployment rates were highest in Slovakia (10.6 per cent) and Poland (9.7 per cent).

These figures are published by Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Communities.

Twenty-three Member States recorded a fall in their unemployment rate over a year and four an increase. The largest relative falls were observed in Bulgaria (9.4 per cent to 6.6 per cent) and Poland (13.6 per cent to 9.7 per cent). The highest relative increases were registered in Portugal (7.5 per cent to 8.2 per cent) and Ireland (4.4 per cent to 4.7 per cent).

The unemployment rate for males fell from 6.7 per cent to 5.8 per cent between July 2006 and July 2007 in the euro area and from 7.1 per cent to 6.1 per cent in the EU27. The female unemployment rate declined from 9.2 per cent to 8.3 per cent in the euro area and from 8.8 per cent to 7.8 per cent in the EU27.

In July 2007, the unemployment rate for under-25s was 15.2 per cent in the euro area and 15.4 per cent in the EU27. In July 2006 it was 16.3 per cent and 17.3 per cent respectively. The lowest rates for under-25s were observed in Denmark (6.2 per cent), the Netherlands (7.2 per cent) and Austria (8.2 per cent), and the highest in Greece (24.6 per cent in the first quarter 2007), France (21.9 per cent), Italy (20.2 per cent in the first quarter 2007) and Poland (20.0 per cent).

Eurostat estimates that 16.0 million men and women in the EU27, of which 10.4 million were in the euro area, were unemployed in July 2007. In July 2006, 18.3 million men and women in the EU27, of which 11.6 million were in the euro area, were unemployed.

The US unemployment rate was 4.6 per cent in July 2007, and the Japanese rate was 3.7 per cent in June 2007.