The European Union's logo in the Irish language, to mark the golden jubilee of the signing of the Treaty of Rome

Eurozone (EA12)¹ seasonally-adjusted unemployment² stood at 7.5% in December 2006, compared to 7.6% in November³. It was 8.4% in December 2005. The EU25¹ unemployment rate was 7.6% in December 2006, the same as November³. It was 8.5% in December 2005.

In December 2006, the lowest rates were registered in Denmark (3.2%), the Netherlands (3.6%), Estonia (4.3%), Ireland (4.4%), and Austria (4.6%). Unemployment rates were highest in Poland (12.8%), Slovakia (12.0%), Greece (8.7% in the third quarter of 2006), Spain and France (both 8.5%).

The Irish rate was 4.2% in November 2006.

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

Amongst the EU25 Member States for which data are available, twenty-one recorded a fall in their unemployment rate over a year and three reported an increase. The largest relative falls were observed in Estonia (7.0% to 4.3%), Poland (16.9% to 12.8%), Slovakia (15.5% to 12.0%) and Denmark (4.1% to 3.2%). The only increases were registered in the United Kingdom (5.0% in October 2005 to 5.4% in October 2006), Luxembourg (4.6% to 4.8%) and Hungary (7.4% to 7.7%).

The unemployment rate for males fell from 7.1% to 6.3% between December 2005 and December 2006 in the Eurozone and from 7.6% to 6.6% in the EU25. The female unemployment rate declined from 9.9% to 9.0% in the Eurozone and from 9.7% to 8.7% in the EU25.

In December 2006, the unemployment rate for under-25s was 15.9% in the Eurozone and 16.3% in the EU25. In December 2005 it was 17.4% and 18.2% respectively. The lowest rates for under-25s were observed in the Netherlands (6.6%), Denmark (6.7%), Austria (8.9%) and Ireland (9.6%); the highest in Poland (25.9%), Slovakia (24.9%), Greece (24.7% in the third quarter of 2006), and France (21.3%).

Eurostat estimates that 11.1 million men and women in the Eurozone, and 16.6 million in the EU25, were unemployed in December 2006. These are seasonally-adjusted figures in line with ILO criteria.

In December 2006, the US unemployment rate was 4.5% and the Japanese rate was 4.1%.

Unemployment (%) in December 2006 - in ascending order

1. The Eurozone (EA12) consisted of 12 Member States up to 31 December 2006: Belgium, Germany, Greece, Spain, France, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Austria, Portugal and Finland. From 1 January 2007 the Eurozone (EA13) also includes Slovenia.

Up to 31 December 2006 the European Union (EU25) included: 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). From 1 January 2007 the European Union (EU27) also includes Bulgaria (BG) and Romania (RO).

As part of Eurostat's guidelines for the dissemination of data when the EU or Eurozone is enlarged, the aggregate data series commented on in this News Release refer to the official composition of the EU and Eurozone in the most recent month for which data is available. Thus News Releases with data for months up to December 2006 will comment on EA12/EU25 series, while Releases with data for January 2007 onwards will comment on EA13/EU27 series.

1. Eurostat's unemployment rates

Eurostat calculates 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. The November 2006 unemployment rate published in News Release 4/2007 of 5 January 2007 for the EA12 remains unchanged, while the rate for the EU25 has been revised. The rate previously published was 7.7%. As a regular update of the calculation process, the most recent EU Labour Force Survey data have been included for several Member States. Revisions of more than 0.1 percentage point for Belgium, Spain, Cyprus, Malta, Poland and Slovakia are primarily due to the inclusion of new LFS data.
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. Quarterly data.
4. Due to the introduction of an EU-harmonised Swedish Labour Force Survey in April 2005, seasonally adjusted time series are not yet available.