Unemployment Remains at Alarming High level: Euro unemployment rate rose tot 11.8%. EU27 to 10.7%

Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union publishes statistics

Unemployment rates remain at record high levels. The euro area (EA17) unemployment rate was 11.8% in November 2012, up from 11.7% in October. The EU27 unemployment rate was 10.7% in November 2012, stable compared with October. Figures hit new highs and risk to undermine social protection systems in southern Europe.


Eurostat estimates that more than 26 million men and women in the EU27, of whom 18 million were in the euro area, were unemployed in November 2012, which is the highest level since the euro was established in 1999.

Among the Member States, the lowest unemployment rates were recorded in Austria - AT (4.5%), Luxembourg - LU (5.1%), Germany-DE (5.4%) and the Netherlands - NL (5.6%), and the highest in Spain - ES (26.6%) and Greece - EL (26.0% in September 2012).

Compared with a year ago, the unemployment rate increased in eighteen Member States, fell in seven and remained stable in Denmark - DK and Hungary - HU.

The largest decreases were observed in Estonia - EE (12.1% to 9.5% between October 2011 and October 2012), Latvia - LV (15.7% to 14.1% between the third quarters of 2011 and 2012), and Lithuania - LT (13.9% to 12.5%).

The highest increases were registered in Greece - EL (18.9% to 26.0% between September 2011 and September 2012), Cyprus - CY (9.5% to 14.0%), Spain - ES (23.0% to 26.6%) and Portugal-PT (14.1% to 16.3%).

Between November 2011 and November 2012, the unemployment rate for males increased from 10.4% to 11.7% in the euro area and from 9.9% to 10.8% in the EU27.

The female unemployment rate rose from 10.9% to 11.8% in the euro area and from 10.1% to 10.7% in the EU27.

- Eurostat Newsrelease

EPHA related articles

- Eurobarometer reports: Discrimination in the EU 2012 (1) & Accessibility (2)
- Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion EU Commissioner: "The European Social Situation is Worrying" - Social Investment Package as a European Answer
- New report: Mapping Exclusion - Institutional and community-based services in the mental health field in Europe
- Second Poverty Convention urges EU Member States to invest in social policies for human capital and social cohesion.
- EPHA Press Release - Child poverty is not the problem itself - It is a symptom
- Report on the EP seminar ’From Rhetoric to Action - Tackling Child Poverty and Promoting Children’s Health and Well-being in the EU’
- Draft Council conclusions on Child Poverty
- EPHA publishes Policy Recommendations on Child Poverty, Health and Well-being
- Eurostat statistics published: 23% of EU population, including 27% of children in poverty in 2010
- EPHA Briefing Paper on Health Inequalities
- 2011: increasing poverty in Europe concludes first annual review of Employment and Social Developments in Europe

Last modified on February 4 2013.