EU unemployment flat at 10.9% in October
The 28-member European Union ended October 2013 with 10.9 per cent unemployment, seasonally adjusted, unchanged from September, EU statistics office Eurostat said on November 29. Last month, Eurostat initially announced unemployment in the EU was 11 per cent, but the figure was later revised downward.
Unemployment – also seasonally-adjusted – in the 17-member euro zone was 12.1 per cent, compared to 12.2 per cent a month earlier, Eurostat said.
In Bulgaria, unemployment in October was 13.2 per cent, up by 0.1 percentage points on a monthly basis and 0.7 percentage points higher than a year earlier.
Eurostat estimated that 26.654 million men and women in the EU28, of whom 19.298 million were in the euro zone, were unemployed in October 2013.
Compared with the previous month, the number of unemployed decreased by 75 000 in the EU28 and by 61 000 in the euro area. Compared with October 2012, unemployment rose by 512 000 million in the EU28 and by 615 000 in the euro area.
Among the EU member states, the lowest unemployment rates were recorded in Austria (4.8 per cent), Germany (5.2 per cent) and Luxembourg (5.9 per cent), while the highest rates were in Greece (27.3 per cent in August 2013) and Spain (26.7 per cent).
Compared with a year ago, the unemployment rate increased in 14 member states and fell in 14. The highest increases were registered in Cyprus (13.2 per cent to 17.0 per cent) and Greece (25.5 per cent to 27.3 per cent between August 2012 and August 2013).
The largest decreases were observed in Latvia (14 per cent to 11.9 per cent between the third quarters of 2012 and 2013), Ireland (14.5 per cent to 12.6 per cent) and Lithuania (13 per cent to 11.1 per cent).
Youth unemployment was down by 29 000 in the EU28 in October, with the unemployment rate flat at 23.7 per cent. In total 5.657 million people under the age of 25 were unemployed in the EU in October.
(Image credit: Eurostat)
