162/2010 - 29 October 2010

September 2010
Euro area unemployment rate at 10.1%
EU27 at 9.6%
The euro area1 (EA16) seasonally-adjusted2 unemployment rate3 was 10.1% in September 2010, compared with
10.0% in August4. It was 9.8% in September 2009. The EU271 unemployment rate was 9.6% in September 2010,
unchanged compared with August4. It was 9.3% in September 2009.
Eurostat estimates that 23.109 million men and women in the EU27, of whom 15.917 million were in the euro area,
were unemployed in September 2010. Compared with August, the number of persons unemployed increased by
71 000 in the EU27 and by 67 000 in the euro area. Compared with September 2009, unemployment rose by
0.656 million in the EU27 and by 0.424 million in the euro area.
These figures are published by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.
Among the Member States, the lowest unemployment rates were recorded in the Netherlands (4.4%) and Austria
(4.5%) and the highest in Spain (20.8%), Latvia (19.4% in the second quarter of 2010), Estonia (18.6% in the
second quarter of 2010) and Lithuania (18.2% in the second quarter of 2010).
Compared with a year ago, the unemployment rate fell in seven Member States, remained stable in one and
increased in nineteen. The largest falls were observed in Malta (7.2% to 6.2%), Germany (7.6% to 6.7%) and
Austria (5.1% to 4.5%). The highest increases were registered in Estonia (13.4% to 18.6% between the second
quarters of 2009 and 2010), Lithuania (13.5% to 18.2% between the second quarters of 2009 and 2010) and
Greece (9.2% to 12.2% between the second quarters of 2009 and 2010).
Between September 2009 and September 2010, the unemployment rate for males rose from 9.8% to 9.9% in the
euro area and remained stable at 9.5% in the EU27. The female unemployment rate increased from 9.9% to
10.3% in the euro area and from 9.1% to 9.6% in the EU27.
In September 2010, the youth unemployment rate (under-25s) was 20.0% in the euro area and 20.3% in the EU27.
In September 2009 it was 20.2% and 20.6% respectively. The lowest rates were observed in Germany (8.5%), the
Netherlands (8.6%) and Austria (8.9%), and the highest rates in Spain (42.5%), Lithuania (37.6% in the second
quarter of 2010) and Estonia (37.2% in the second quarter of 2010).
In the USA, the unemployment rate was 9.6% in September 2010. In Japan it was 5.1% in August 2010.

Unemployment rates in September 2010, seasonally adjusted

25
20.8
19.4
20 18.2 18.6

14.1 14.7
15 12.2
% 10.6 10.8
9.6 9.6 10.0 10.1 10.1
10 8.2 8.3 8.3 8.7
7.1 7.1 7.3 7.7
6.2 6.7 6.9 7.0
4.4 4.5 5.0
5

0
EA16
AT

CZ

LV*
EU27
NL

PL
SI

FI
DE

CY

IE

ES
SE

BE
RO*

EL*

EE*
UK**
LU

DK

FR

HU

SK
BG
PT
MT

IT

LT*

* Q2 2010 ** July 2010

1. The euro area (EA16) consists of Belgium, Germany, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Italy, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Malta, the
Netherlands, Austria, Portugal, Slovenia, Slovakia and Finland.
The EU27 includes Belgium (BE), Bulgaria (BG), the Czech Republic (CZ), Denmark (DK), Germany (DE), Estonia (EE),
Ireland (IE), Greece (EL), Spain (ES), France (FR), Italy (IT), Cyprus (CY), Latvia (LV), Lithuania (LT), Luxembourg (LU),
Hungary (HU), Malta (MT), the Netherlands (NL), Austria (AT), Poland (PL), Portugal (PT), Romania (RO), Slovenia (SI),
Slovakia (SK), Finland (FI), Sweden (SE) and the United Kingdom (UK).
2. Non-seasonally adjusted and trend data can be found in the statistical database on the Eurostat website.
3. 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.
The numbers of unemployed and the monthly unemployment rates are estimates based on results of the LFS which is a
continuous household survey carried out in Member States on the basis of agreed definitions. These results are
interpolated/extrapolated to monthly data using national survey data and/or national monthly series on registered
unemployment. The most recent figures are therefore provisional; results from the Labour Force Survey are available
90 days after the end of the reference period for most Member States.
Monthly unemployment and employment series are calculated first at the level of four categories for each Member State
(males and females 15-24 years, males and females 25-74 years). These series are then seasonally adjusted and all the
national and European aggregates are calculated.
Member States may publish other rates such as register based unemployment rates, or rates based on national Labour
Force Surveys or corresponding surveys. These rates may vary from those published by Eurostat due to a different definition
or methodological choices.
Current deviations from the definition of unemployment in the EU Labour Force Survey:
Spain, Italy and United Kingdom: Unemployment is restricted to persons aged 16-74. In Spain and Italy the legal minimum
age for working is 16. Employment data used for Italy includes also those above 74.
4. Compared with the rates published in News Release 142/2010 of 1 October 2010, the August 2010 unemployment rate has
been revised from 10.1% to 10.0% for the euro area and remains unchanged at 9.6% for the EU27. Among Member States,
the rate has been revised by 0.2 percentage points for Finland.
The following LFS data are used in the calculations of the monthly unemployment rates published in this News Release:
For Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Finland and Sweden monthly data up to and including September 2010.
For the United Kingdom monthly data up to and including June-July-August 2010 (3-month rolling average).
For Spain quarterly data up to and including Q3 2010.
For Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Ireland, Greece, France, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania,
Luxembourg, Hungary, Malta, Austria, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia and Slovakia quarterly data up to and including
Q2 2010.
5. Italy recently implemented a method to produce monthly unemployment data purely based on the LFS. For the moment,
these data should be considered provisional.
6. Estonia, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania and Romania: quarterly data for all series.
Cyprus and Slovenia: quarterly data for youth unemployment.
7. For Finland the trend component is used instead of the more volatile seasonally adjusted data.

Issued by: For further information on data:

Eurostat Press Office
Hubertus VREESWIJK
Tim ALLEN Tel: +352-4301-34 323
Tel: +352-4301-33 444
eurostat-pressoffice@ec.europa.eu Hannah KIIVER
Tel: +352-4301-38 438
Eurostat news releases on internet:
http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat estat-monthly-unemployment@ec.europa.eu

Selected Principal European Economic Indicators: http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/euroindicators

 Euro area and EU27 unemployment rates
Euro area (EA16), seasonally adjusted series
EU27, seasonally adjusted series

10

%
8

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2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

SEASONALLY ADJUSTED UNEMPLOYMENT RATES (%)

TOTALS
Sep 2009 Mar 2010 Apr 2010 May 2010 Jun 2010 Jul 2010 Aug 2010 Sep 2010
EA16 9.8 10.0 10.0 10.0 10.0 10.0 10.0 10.1
EU27 9.3 9.6 9.6 9.6 9.6 9.6 9.6 9.6
BE 8.1 8.4 8.5 8.5 8.6 8.7 8.7 8.7
BG 7.4 9.7 9.9 10.0 10.0 10.1 10.0 10.1
CZ 7.4 7.8 7.5 7.3 7.1 7.0 6.9 6.9
DK 6.5 7.3 7.4 7.3 7.3 7.0 6.8 7.0
DE 7.6 7.2 7.0 6.9 6.9 6.8 6.8 6.7
6
EE 15.3 19.0 18.6 18.6 18.6 : : :
IE 12.9 13.0 13.2 13.6 13.7 13.8 13.9 14.1
EL6 9.7 11.1 12.2 12.2 12.2 : : :
ES 19.0 19.5 19.8 20.0 20.2 20.4 20.6 20.8
FR 9.7 9.8 9.8 9.9 9.9 9.9 10.0 10.0
IT5 8.2 8.5 8.5 8.5 8.3 8.3 8.1 8.3
CY 6.0 6.7 6.9 7.0 7.1 7.1 7.1 7.1
LV6 18.6 20.0 19.4 19.4 19.4 : : :
LT6 14.4 17.2 18.2 18.2 18.2 : : :
LU 5.0 4.9 4.9 4.9 4.9 5.0 5.0 5.0
HU 10.6 11.5 11.4 11.2 11.2 11.1 10.9 10.8
MT 7.2 6.9 7.0 6.7 6.5 6.4 6.2 6.2
NL 4.0 4.5 4.5 4.5 4.5 4.6 4.5 4.4
AT 5.1 4.5 4.6 4.6 4.5 4.3 4.3 4.5
PL 8.6 9.8 9.7 9.6 9.5 9.5 9.5 9.6
PT 10.2 10.7 10.9 11.0 11.0 10.8 10.6 10.6
RO6 7.2 7.3 7.1 7.1 7.1 : : :
SI 6.4 6.9 7.2 7.3 7.3 7.2 7.3 7.3
SK 13.3 14.6 14.5 14.4 14.4 14.5 14.6 14.7
FI7 8.6 8.7 8.6 8.5 8.5 8.4 8.3 8.3
SE 8.7 8.5 9.0 8.7 8.1 8.5 8.2 8.2
UK 7.9 7.8 7.8 7.8 7.8 7.7 : :
NO 3.2 3.5 3.6 3.6 3.5 3.3 : :
US 9.8 9.7 9.9 9.7 9.5 9.5 9.6 9.6
JP 5.3 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.2 5.1 :
: Data not available Source: Eurostat
 SEASONALLY ADJUSTED UNEMPLOYMENT RATES (%)
Youth (under 25's) Males Females
Sep-09 Jul-10 Aug-10 Sep-10 Sep-09 Jul-10 Aug-10 Sep-10 Sep-09 Jul-10 Aug-10 Sep-10
EA16 20.2 20.0 19.9 20.0 9.8 9.8 9.9 9.9 9.9 10.3 10.2 10.3
EU27 20.6 20.4 20.3 20.3 9.5 9.6 9.5 9.5 9.1 9.6 9.6 9.6
BE 22.7 24.1 24.3 24.4 7.9 8.5 8.5 8.5 8.4 9.0 9.0 9.0
BG 17.7 21.1 20.7 20.7 7.7 10.6 10.5 10.5 7.0 9.5 9.5 9.6
CZ 18.9 17.7 17.3 17.3 6.6 5.9 5.9 5.8 8.4 8.4 8.3 8.3
DK 12.0 11.7 12.0 12.2 7.3 8.0 7.5 7.6 5.6 5.9 6.1 6.3
DE 10.5 9.1 8.8 8.5 8.2 7.3 7.3 7.2 6.8 6.2 6.2 6.1
EE6 28.9 37.2* : : 18.5 22.3* : : 12.0 15.0* : :
IE 26.3 28.3 28.6 29.1 16.0 17.0 17.1 17.3 9.0 9.8 9.9 10.1
EL6 25.8 32.1* : : 7.1 9.7* : : 13.5 15.7* : :
ES 40.5 42.0 42.3 42.5 18.8 19.9 20.0 20.3 19.2 21.0 21.2 21.3
FR 23.7 24.0 24.4 24.4 9.5 9.5 9.6 9.5 10.0 10.4 10.4 10.5
IT5 26.1 26.1 25.0 26.4 7.4 7.4 7.5 7.3 9.3 9.6 9.1 9.7
CY6 15.2 20.6 20.6 20.6 6.0 7.1 7.0 6.9 6.0 7.1 7.2 7.3
LV6 36.1 34.0* : : 22.0 22.8* : : 15.1 16.1* : :
LT6 33.0 37.6* : : 18.3 22.1* : : 10.6 14.4* : :
LU 15.7 16.8 16.9 16.6 4.4 4.3 4.4 4.3 5.8 5.8 5.8 5.8
HU 27.7 27.3 27.1 26.7 11.0 11.5 11.3 11.1 10.2 10.5 10.5 10.4
MT 14.7 11.9 11.3 11.6 6.9 6.2 6.0 6.0 7.7 6.9 6.6 6.5
NL 8.3 8.8 8.8 8.6 4.0 4.5 4.5 4.3 4.1 4.6 4.5 4.6
AT 10.3 8.2 8.5 8.9 5.4 4.5 4.5 4.7 4.8 4.1 4.1 4.3
PL 22.8 23.0 22.8 22.9 8.3 9.0 9.0 9.1 9.0 10.0 10.1 10.1
PT 20.7 20.4 20.1 19.8 9.6 9.8 9.6 9.5 10.8 11.8 11.7 11.7
RO6 21.4 21.4* : : 8.1 7.5* : : 6.2 6.5* : :
SI6 14.3 15.2 15.2 15.2 6.4 7.4 7.4 7.3 6.4 7.1 7.2 7.3
SK 30.1 31.9 31.7 31.9 13.0 14.2 14.2 14.4 13.7 14.9 15.0 15.1
FI7 22.6 21.1 21.0 21.0 9.4 9.0 9.0 8.9 7.8 7.7 7.7 7.6
SE 25.4 25.1 25.1 25.0 9.0 8.5 8.2 8.4 8.5 8.4 8.3 8.0
UK 19.9 19.2 : : 9.0 8.4 : : 6.5 6.9 : :
NO 9.2 8.2 : : 3.6 3.8 : : 2.7 2.7 : :
US 18.3 18.6 18.1 17.9 11.0 10.4 10.6 10.5 8.5 8.5 8.6 8.6
JP : : : : 5.6 5.5 5.4 : 4.9 4.7 4.6 :
* Data for Q2 2010 : Data not available Source: Eurostat

SEASONALLY ADJUSTED NUMBER OF UNEMPLOYED (in millions)

Sep 2009 Mar 2010 Apr 2010 May 2010 Jun 2010 Jul 2010 Aug 2010 Sep 2010
EA16 15.493 15.703 15.799 15.859 15.836 15.858 15.850 15.917
EU27 22.453 23.097 23.167 23.173 23.110 23.094 23.038 23.109

Euro area and EU27 unemployed (in millions)

Euro area (EA16), seasonally adjusted series
EU27, seasonally adjusted series
24

22

20

18

16

14

12

10

I II III IV I II III IV I II III IV I II III IV I II III IV I II III IV I II III IV I II III IV I II III IV I II III IV I II III
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010