These figures are published by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.
Among the Member States, the lowest unemployment rates were recorded in the Netherlands (4.4%), Luxembourg (4.8%) and Austria (5.1%), and the highest in Spain (20.6%), Lithuania (18.3% in the third quarter of 2010) and Latvia (18.2% in the third quarter of 2010).
Compared with a year ago, the unemployment rate fell in six Member States, remained stable in three and increased in eighteen. The largest falls were observed in Finland (8.8% to 7.9%), Sweden (8.7% to 7.8%), Germany (7.5% to 6.7%) and Malta (7.1% to 6.3%). The highest increases were registered in Lithuania (14.3% to 18.3% between the third quarters of 2009 and 2010), Greece (9.7% to 12.9% between the third quarters of 2009 and 2010) and Bulgaria (8.3% to 10.2%).
Between November 2009 and November 2010, the unemployment rate for males rose from 9.8% to 9.9% in the euro area and remained stable at 9.6% in the EU27. The female unemployment rate increased from 9.9% to 10.2% in the euro area and from 9.2% to 9.6% in the EU27.
In November 2010, the youth unemployment rate (under-25s) was 20.7% in the euro area and 21.0% in the EU27. In November 2009 it was 20.1% and 20.5% respectively. The lowest rates were observed in the Netherlands (8.4%), Germany (8.6%) and Austria (10.3%), and the highest in Spain (43.6%), Slovakia (36.6%) and Lithuania (35.2% in the third quarter of 2010).
In November 2010, the unemployment rate was 9.8% in the USA and 5.1% in Japan.
