Member States
Among the Member States, the lowest unemployment rates were recorded in Austria (4.9%), Germany (5.4%) and Luxembourg (5.6%), and the highest in Greece (27.0% in February 2013), Spain (26.8%) and Portugal (17.8%).
Compared with a year ago, the unemployment rate increased in eighteen Member States and fell in nine. The highest increases were registered in Greece (21.9% to 27.0% between February 2012 and February 2013),Cyprus (11.2% to 15.6%), Spain (24.4% to 26.8%) and Portugal (15.4% to 17.8%). The largest decreases were observed in Latvia (15.5% to 12.4% between the first quarters of 2012 and 2013), Estonia (10.6% to 8.7% between March 2012 and March 2013) and Ireland (14.9% to 13.5%).
In April 2013, the unemployment rate in the United States was 7.5%, down from 7.6% in the previous month and from 8.1% in April 2012.
Youth unemployment
In April 2013, 5.627 million young persons (under 25) were unemployed in the EU27, of whom 3.624 million were in the euro area. Compared with April 2012, youth unemployment rose by 100 000 in the EU27 and by 188 000 in the euro area. In April 2013, the youth unemployment rate was 23.5% in the EU27 and 24.4% in the euro area, compared with 22.6% in both zones in April 2012. In April 2013, the lowest rates were observed in Germany (7.5%), Austria (8.0%) and the Netherlands (10.6%), and the highest in Greece (62.5% in February 2013), Spain (56.4%), Portugal (42.5%) and Italy (40.5%).
