Euro-zone seasonally-adjusted unemployment rose to 8.4% in October 2002, compared to 8.3% in September, Eurostat - Statistical Office of the European Communities in Luxembourg - reports today. It was 8.0% in October 2001. The EU15 unemployment rate rose to 7.7% in October, compared to 7.6% in September3. It was 7.4% in October 2001.
In October 2002, lowest rates were registered in Luxembourg (2.6%), the Netherlands (2.8% in September), Austria (4.1%), Ireland (4.4%), Denmark (4.7%), and Portugal (4.9%). Spain’s 11.7% remained the EU’s highest rate.
Among the twelve Member States for which data are available for the most recent two months, ten recorded an increase in their unemployment rate in the last twelve months. Luxembourg (2.0% to 2.6%), Portugal (4.1% to 4.9%), the Netherlands (2.4% in September 2001 to 2.8% in September 2002), Spain (10.6% to 11.7%), and Ireland (4.0% to 4.4%) recorded the most important relative increases. Sweden´s rate decreased from 5.1% to 5.0% and Finland´s rate decreased from 9.2% to 9.1%.
In October 2002 compared to October 2001, the unemployment rate for males in the euro-zone grew from 6.8% to 7.3%, and the female unemployment rate rose from 9.6% to 9.8%. In the EU15 the unemployment rate for males grew from 6.5% in October 2001 to 6.9% in October 2002. Over the same period the female rate increased from 8.5% to 8.6%.
In October 2002, the unemployment rate for under-25s was 16.2% in the euro-zone and 15.1% in the EU15. This compares to 15.7% and 14.7% respectively a year earlier. In October 2002, it ranged from 5.3% in the Netherlands (in September) to 22.2% in Spain.
In October, the US unemployment rate was 5.7% and the Japanese rate was 5.5%.
Eurostat estimates that, in October 2002, 11.6 million men and women were unemployed in the euro-zone and 13.5 million in the EU15. These are seasonally-adjusted figures in line with ILO criteria.
(source: Eurostat)
