Unemployment rate in Euro area increased 

unemployment

In July 2020, a month marked by some relaxation of COVID-19 containment measures in many Member States, the euro area seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate was 7.9%, up from 7.7% in June 2020. The EU unemployment rate was 7.2% in July 2020, up from 7.1% in June 2020. These figures are published by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.

Eurostat estimates that 15.184 million men and women in the EU, of whom 12.793 million in the euro area, were unemployed in July 2020. Compared with June 2020, the number of persons unemployed increased by 336 000 in the EU and by 344 000 in the euro area.

Youth unemployment

In July 2020, 2.906 million young persons (under 25) were unemployed in the EU, of whom 2.338 million were in the euro area. In July 2020, the youth unemployment rate was 17.0% in the EU and 17.3% in the euro area, up from 16.9% and 17.2% respectively in the previous month. Compared with June 2020, youth unemployment increased by 37 000 in the EU and by 29 000 in the euro area.

Unemployment by gender

In July 2020, the unemployment rate for women was 7.5% in the EU, up from 7.3% in June 2020. The unemployment rate for men was 7.0% in July 2020, up from 6.8% in June 2020. In the euro area, the unemployment rate for women increased from 8.0% in June 2020 to 8.3% in July 2020 while it increased from 7.5% to 7.6% for men.

These estimates are based on the globally used International Labour Organisation standard definition of, unemployment, which counts as unemployed people without a job who have been actively seeking work in the last four weeks and are available to start work within the next two weeks. The COVID-19 outbreak and the measures applied to combat it have triggered a sharp increase in the number of claims for unemployment benefits across the EU. At the same time, a significant part of those who had registered in unemployment agencies were no longer actively looking for a job or no longer available for work, for instance, if they had to take care of their children. This leads to discrepancies in the number of registered unemployed and those measured as unemployed according to the ILO definition.

To capture in full the unprecedented labour market situation triggered by the COVID-19 outbreak, the data on unemployment have been complemented by additional indicators, e.g. on employment, underemployment and potential additional labour force participants, released together with LFS data for the first quarter of 2020.

Geographical information

The euro area (EA19) includes Belgium, Germany, Estonia, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Italy, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Austria, Portugal, Slovenia, Slovakia and Finland. The European Union (EU27) includes Belgium, Bulgaria, Czechia, Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Croatia, Italy, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Hungary, Malta, the Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Finland and Sweden.

Methods and definitions
Eurostat publishes harmonised unemployment rates for individual EU Member States, the euro area and the EU. These unemployment rates are based on the definition recommended by the International Labour Organisation (ILO). The measurement is based on a harmonised data source, the European Union Labour Force Survey (LFS).

Based on the ILO definition, Eurostat defines unemployed persons as persons aged 15 to 74 who:
– are without work;
– are available to start work within the next two weeks;
– and have actively sought employment at some time during the previous four weeks

The unemployment rate is the number of people unemployed as a percentage of the labour force.

The labour force is the total number of people employed plus unemployed. In this news release unemployment rates are based
on employment and unemployment data covering persons aged 15 to 74.

Source: Eurostat

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