Euro-zone¹ seasonally-adjusted unemployment² stood at 8.4% in December 2005, compared to 8.3% in November. It was 8.8% in December 2004. The EU25³ unemployment rate was 8.5% in December 2005, unchanged compared to November. It was 9.0% in December 2004.

In December 2005, the lowest rates were registered in Ireland (4.3%), Denmark (4.4%), the Netherlands (4.7%), the United Kingdom (4.9% in October) and Austria (5.2%). Unemployment rates were highest in Poland (17.2%), Slovakia (16.1%), Greece (10.1% in the third quarter 2005), Germany⁴ (9.5%) and France (9.2%).

These figures come from Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Communities.

Amongst the Member States, sixteen recorded a decrease in their unemployment rate over a year, two remained stable and six reported an increase. The largest relative falls were observed in Lithuania (10.2% to 6.8%), Estonia (8.7% to 6.7%), Spain (10.3% to 8.5%), Latvia (10.0% to 8.3%) and Denmark (5.2% to 4.4%). The highest relative increases were registered in Luxembourg (5.0% to 5.6%), Hungary (6.6% to 7.3%), the United Kingdom (4.6% in October 2004 to 4.9% in October 2005) and Portugal (7.1% to 7.5%).

The unemployment rate for males fell from 7.6% to 7.2% in the euro-zone between December 2004 and December 2005 and from 8.1% to 7.6% in the EU25. The female unemployment rate declined from 10.3% to 9.9% in the euro-zone and from 10.1% to 9.7% in the EU25.

In December 2005, the unemployment rate for under-25s was 17.6% in the euro-zone and 18.4% in the EU25. In December 2004 it was 18.2% and 18.8% respectively. The lowest rates for under-25s were observed in the Netherlands (8.1%), Denmark (8.2%) and Ireland (8.5%), and the highest in Poland (35.5%), Slovakia (30.4%) and Greece (26.8% in third quarter 2005).

Eurostat estimates that, in December 2005, 12.2 million men and women were unemployed in the euro-zone and 18.6 million in the EU25. These are seasonally-adjusted figures in line with ILO criteria.

In December 2005, the US unemployment rate was 4.9% and the Japanese rate was 4.4%.

Unemployment (%) in December 2005 - in ascending order

1. Euro-zone: Belgium, Germany, Greece, Spain, France, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Austria, Portugal and Finland.
2. Eurostat's unemployment rates

Eurostat compiles "harmonised" unemployment rates for Member States. These unemployment rates are based on definitions recommended by the International Labour Organisation (ILO). "Harmonised" means that the national micro data concerning the individuals and households are treated by Eurostat in the same fashion throughout the EU so as to allow comparability between the Member States.

The Eurostat definition of unemployed people are those aged 15 to 74 and who, following the International Labour Organisation (ILO) definition:

- 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 and unemployed.

The numbers of unemployed and the monthly unemployment rate are estimates based on results of the European Union Labour Force Survey which is a household survey carried out in all countries on the basis of agreed definitions. These results are interpolated/ extrapolated to monthly data using national survey data and national monthly series on registered unemployment. The most recent figures are therefore provisional; first 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. Before the aggregation, missing national data are estimated using the most recent trends of the series.

Registered unemployed data are national administrative data compiled on a purely national basis and purposes. There are no European-wide rules on definition and coverage. Therefore the ensuing unemployment rates cannot be compared from one country to another. National legislation on the definition of unemployment and therefore its calculation can change in individual states. The conditions to receive unemployment benefits and assistance vary from one country to another. This affects the willingness of people to register themselves and the published unemployment rates.

Member States may also publish other rates than register based unemployment rates, for example based on national Labour Force or corresponding surveys. Although still internationally comparable, these rates may vary to a minor extent from those published by Eurostat due to different methodological choices.

Current deviations from definition of unemployment in the EU Labour Force Survey

Spain, United Kingdom: Unemployment is restricted to persons aged 16-74. In Spain the legal age limit for working is 16.

Netherlands: Persons without a job, who are available for work and looking for a job are only included in unemployment if they express that they would like to work.

1. EU25: Belgium (BE), the Czech Republic (CZ), Denmark (DK), Germany (DE), Estonia (EE), Greece (EL), Spain (ES), France (FR), Ireland (IE), Italy (IT), Cyprus (CY), Latvia (LV), Lithuania (LT), Luxembourg (LU), Hungary (HU), Malta (MT), the Netherlands (NL), Austria (AT), Poland (PL), Portugal (PT), Slovenia (SI), Slovakia (SK), Finland (FI), Sweden (SE) and the United Kingdom (UK).
2. Provisional data. German seasonally adjusted data are based on the German statistical office's telephone survey. Due to the relative shortness of the time series offered by the survey, it is not possible to fully extract the seasonal component. Hence, European aggregates have been compiled using smoothed German seasonally adjusted data. This method is applied for the data from 2003 onwards.

3. Due to the introduction of a EU-harmonised Swedish Labour Force Survey in April 2005, seasonally adjusted time series are not yet available.
4. Data for Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia have been revised. For these countries, the unemployment rates are now referenced against quarterly results from the continuous European Union Labour Force Survey; previously the rates were referenced against LFS data relating only to the 2^nd quarter of each year. This practice has improved comparability between Member States. The most notable revision of total unemployment rate concerns Slovenia.
5. Individual country data in this table may show large fluctuations. This is partly caused by the sample size used in some countries. The most volatile series are published quarterly.