Twenty-two Member States recorded a fall in their unemployment rate over a year, four an increase and in Romania the unemployment rate was stable. The largest relative falls were observed in Estonia (6.3% to 4.7%), Slovenia (6.4% to 4.8%) and Slovakia (13.8% to 10.5%). The highest relative increases were registered in Hungary (7.3% to 8.2%) and Portugal (7.6% to 8.0%).
The unemployment rate for males fell from 6.9% to 5.9% between April 2006 and April 2007 in the euro area and from 7.3% to 6.3% in the EU27. The female unemployment rate declined from 9.3% to 8.6% in the euro area and from 8.9% to 8.2% in the EU27.
In April 2007, the unemployment rate for under-25s was 15.7% in the euro area and 16.1% in the EU27. In April 2006 it was 16.7% and 17.6% respectively. The lowest rates for under-25s were observed in the Netherlands (5.9%), Denmark (6.6% in March) and Ireland (7.6%); the highest in Greece (25.5% in the fourth quarter 2006), Poland (23.0%), and Slovakia (22.0%).
Eurostat estimates that 16.7 million men and women in the EU27, of which 10.6 million were in the euro area, were unemployed in April 2007. In April 2006, 18.7 million men and women in the EU27, of which 11.8 million were in the euro area, were unemployed.
In April 2007, the US unemployment rate was 4.5% and the Japanese rate was 3.8%.
