These figures are published by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.
Among the Member States, the lowest unemployment rates were recorded in Austria (3.9%) and the Netherlands (4.4%), and the highest rates in Spain (20.0%), Latvia (20.0% in the first quarter of 2010), and Estonia (19.0% in the first quarter of 2010).
Compared with a year ago, four Member States recorded a fall in the unemployment rate, one remained stable and twenty-two showed an increase. The largest falls were observed in Austria (5.1% to 3.9%), Malta (7.2% to 6.5%) and Germany (7.7% to 7.0%) . The highest increases were registered in Estonia (11.0% to 19.0% between the first quarters of 2009 and 2010) and Latvia (13.4% to 20.0% between the first quarters of 2009 and 2010).
Between June 2009 and June 2010, the unemployment rate for males rose from 9.3% to 9.8% in the euro area and from 9.1% to 9.7% in the EU27. The female unemployment rate increased from 9.7% to 10.2% in the euro area and from 8.9% to 9.5% in the EU27.
In June 2010, the youth unemployment rate (under-25s) was 19.6% in the euro area and 20.3% in the EU27. In June 2009 it was 19.5% and 19.6% respectively. The lowest rate was observed in the Netherlands (8.1%), and the highest rates in Spain (40.3%), Estonia (39.8% in the first quarter of 2010) and Latvia (39.5% in the first quarter of 2010).
In the USA , the unemployment rate was 9.5% in June 2010. In Japan it was 5.2% in May 2010.
