According to Eurostat figures published in October 2002, the seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate stood at 7.7% in the 15 EU Member States in August 2002. This was unchanged when compared with the previous month, but an increase on the 7.3% recorded in August 2001 .Unemployment thus rose across the EU by 0.4 percentage points over the year to August. The August 2002 rate for the 'euro-zone' (ie the EU Member States except Denmark, Sweden and the UK) was higher, at 8.3%. This was also unchanged when compared with the previous month, but an increase of 0.3 points on the 8.0% recorded in August 2001.
Over the year to August 2002, the unemployment rate rose from 7.3% to 7.7% across the EU, and from 8.0% to 8.3% in the euro-zone. Member States have widely differing unemployment rates, but levels are increasing in most countries.
According to Eurostat figures published in October 2002, the seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate stood at 7.7% in the 15 EU Member States in August 2002. This was unchanged when compared with the previous month, but an increase on the 7.3% recorded in August 2001 .Unemployment thus rose across the EU by 0.4 percentage points over the year to August. The August 2002 rate for the 'euro-zone' (ie the EU Member States except Denmark, Sweden and the UK) was higher, at 8.3%. This was also unchanged when compared with the previous month, but an increase of 0.3 points on the 8.0% recorded in August 2001.
Across the EU, the lowest rates of unemployment were recorded in Luxembourg (2.5%) and the Netherlands (2.8% in July 2002), while the highest rates were recorded in Spain (11.3%) and Finland (9.4%). Greece had a rate of 9.9% in the most recent month for which figures were available - June 2002.
Data for August 2002 were not available for all Member States. However, of the 13 Member States for which figures were available, 11 showed an increase in unemployment over the previous year. The most significant increases were seen in Ireland (3.8% in August 2001 to 4.5% in August 2002) and Austria (3.6% in August 2001 to 4.2% in August 2002).
Broken down by age and sex, the figures reveal a range of tendencies. The unemployment rate for males across the EU increased from 6.4% in August 2001 to 6.9% in August 2002, while the rate for females increased slightly less over the same period, but was nevertheless higher overall – 8.5% in August 2001 and 8.6% in August 2002.
The unemployment rate for people aged under 25 in the EU, which is much higher than the overall figure, also increased between August 2001 and August 2002, from 14.6% to 15.3%. The Member States with the highest rates of unemployment among under-25s are Spain (22.1%), Finland (21.4%) and France (20.9%). No August 2002 figure was available for Greece, but its June 2002 figure, at 26.1%, was higher than any of the August 2002 figures for other Member States.
Eurofound recommends citing this publication in the following way.
Eurofound (2002), EU unemployment on the increase, article.
