The euro area (EA15) seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate stood at 7.7% in October 2008, compared with 7.6% in September. It was 7.3% in October 2007. The EU27 unemployment rate was 7.1% in October 2008, compared with 7.0% in September. It was 6.9% in October 2007.

Eurostat estimates that 17.183 million men and women in the EU27, of which 12.003 million were in the euro area, were unemployed in October 2008. Compared with September 2008, the number of persons unemployed increased by 290 000 in the EU27 and by 225 000 in the euro area. Compared with October 2007, unemployment went up by 709 000 in the EU27 and by 810 000 in the euro area.

Among the Member States, the lowest unemployment rates were recorded in the Netherlands (2.5%), Austria (3.0%) and Denmark (3.2%), and the highest in Spain (12.8%) and Slovakia (10.0%).

Compared with a year ago, fifteen Member States recorded a fall in their unemployment rate, eleven an increase and the rate remained stable in one. The largest falls were observed in Poland (8.7% to 6.4%) and Austria (4.3% to 3.0%), and the highest increases in Spain (8.5% to 12.8%) and Estonia (4.1% to 7.5%).

The unemployment rate for males increased from 6.5% to 7.2% between October 2007 and October 2008 in the euro area and from 6.4% to 6.8% in the EU27. The female unemployment rate increased from 8.2% to 8.3% in the euro area but declined from 7.6% to 7.5% in the EU27.

In October 2008, the youth unemployment rate (under-25s) was 15.9% in both the euro area and the EU27. In October 2007 it was 14.6% and 14.9% respectively. The lowest rates were observed in the Netherlands (5.1%) and Austria (5.4%), and the highest in Spain (28.1%) and Sweden (22.4%).

The unemployment rate was 6.5% in the USA in October 2008 and 4.0% in Japan in September 2008.