The euro area (EA15) seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate stood at 7.2% in May 2008, unchanged compared with April. It was 7.5% in May 2007. The EU27 unemployment rate was 6.8% in May 2008, compared with 6.7% in April. It was 7.2% in May 2007.

Eurostat estimates that 16.171 million men and women in the EU27, of which 11.199 million in the euro area, were unemployed in May 2008. Compared with April 2008, the number of persons unemployed increased by 42 000 and 67 000 respectively. Compared with May 2007, unemployment was down by 0.9 million in the EU27 and by 0.2 million in the euro area.

Among the Member States, the lowest unemployment rates were registered in Denmark (2.7%) and the Netherlands (2.9%), and the highest in Slovakia (10.5%) and Spain (9.9%).

Over the last year, twenty-one Member States recorded a fall in their unemployment rate and six an increase. The largest falls were observed in Poland (9.8% to 7.5%) and Bulgaria (7.1% to 5.7%), and the highest increases in Spain (8.1% to 9.9%) and Ireland (4.8% to 6.0%).

The unemployment rate for males remained stable at 6.6% between May 2007 and May 2008 in the euro area and fell from 6.6% to 6.3% in the EU27. The female unemployment rate declined from 8.5% to 8.0% in the euro area and from 7.9% to 7.3% in the EU27.

In May 2008, the youth unemployment rate (under-25s) was 15.0% in the euro area and 14.9% in the EU27. In May 2007 it was 14.8% and 15.5% respectively. The lowest rates were observed in the Netherlands (5.6%) and in Denmark (5.8%), and the highest in Spain (23.9%), Greece (22.7% in the first quarter 2008) and Italy (20.8% in the first quarter 2008).