The euro area (EA15) seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate stood at 7.3% in June 2008, unchanged compared with May3. It was 7.4% in June 2007. The EU27 unemployment rate was 6.8% in June 2008, unchanged compared with May3. It was 7.1% in June 2007.

Eurostat estimates that 16.322 million men and women in the EU27, of which 11.352 million in the euro area, were unemployed in June 2008. Compared with May 2008, the number of persons unemployed increased by 15,000 and 58,000 respectively. Compared with June 2007, unemployment was down by 0.6 million in the EU27 and remained unchanged in the euro area.

Among the Member States, the lowest unemployment rates were registered in Denmark (2.6%) and the Netherlands (2.8%), and the highest in Spain (10.7%) and Slovakia (10.5%), Malta stood at 5.8%.

Compared with a year ago, twenty-one Member States recorded a fall in their unemployment rate, five an increase and one remained stable. The largest falls were observed in Poland (9.5% to 7.3%) and Bulgaria (7.0% to 5.7%), and the highest increases in Spain (8.1% to 10.7%) and Ireland (4.5% to 5.7%), Malta registered a fall from 6.5% to 5.8%.

The unemployment rate for males increased from 6.6% to 6.7% between June 2007 and June 2008 in the euro area and fell from 6.6% to 6.4% in the EU27, Malta stood at 5.2%. The female unemployment rate declined from 8.4% to 8.1% in the euro area and from 7.8% to 7.3% in the EU27, Malta stood at 6.9%.

In June 2008, the youth unemployment rate (under-25s) was 14.9% in the euro area and 14.7% in the EU27, Malta stood at 11.2%. In June 2007 it was 14.8% and 15.3% respectively. The lowest rates were observed in the Netherlands (5.1%) and in Denmark (5.8%), and the highest in Spain (24.1%) and Greece (22.7% in the first quarter 2008).

In June 2008, the unemployment rate was 5.5% in the USA and 4.1% in Japan.

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