The euro area (EA15) seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate stood at 7.5% in September 2008, stable compared with August. It was 7.3% in September 2007. The EU27 unemployment rate was 7.0% in September 2008, compared with 6.9% in August. It was 7.0% in September 2007.

Eurostat estimates that 16.710 million men and women in the EU27, of which 11.691 million were in the euro area, were unemployed in September 2008. Compared with August 2008, the number of persons unemployed increased by 32 000 in the EU27 and by 52 000 in the euro area. Compared with September 2007, unemployment went up by 132 000 in the EU27 and by 507 000 in the euro area.

Among the Member States, the lowest unemployment rates were recorded in the Netherlands (2.5%) and Denmark (2.9%), and the highest in Spain (11.9%) and Slovakia (10.0%).

Compared with a year ago, seventeen Member States recorded a fall in their unemployment rate, nine an increase and one remained stable. The largest falls were observed in Poland (9.0% to 6.5%) and Austria (4.5% to 3.2%), and the highest increases in Spain (8.3% to 11.9%) and Ireland (4.6% to 6.6%).

The unemployment rate for males increased from 6.5% to 6.9% between September 2007 and September 2008 in the euro area and from 6.4% to 6.6% in the EU27. The female unemployment rate remained stable at 8.2% in the euro area and declined from 7.6% to 7.4% in the EU27.

In September 2008, the youth unemployment rate (under-25s) was 15.3% in both the euro area and the EU27. In September 2007 it was 14.5% and 15.0% respectively. The lowest rates were observed in the Netherlands (5.3%) and Austria (6.0%), and the highest in Spain (25.9%) and Greece (21.4% in the second quarter 2008).

The unemployment rate was 6.1% in the USA in September 2008 and 4.2% in Japan in August 2008.