According to the most recent data released by the Statistical Office of the European Communities (Eurostat), the seasonally-adjusted unemployment  rate stood at 7.3% in July 2008 for the Euro area. This rate has also remained stable for the EU27 as a whole, showing a value of 6.8% for this same period.

The Statistical Office of the European Communities (Eurostat) estimates that 16.292 million men and women in the EU27, of which 11.372 million in the Euro area, were unemployed in July 2008. Compared with June 2008, the number of persons unemployed decreased by 73.000 in the EU27 and increased by 25.000 in the Euro area. Compared with July 2007, unemployment fell by 563.000 in the EU27 and rose by 59.000 in the Euro area.

Among the Member States, the lowest unemployment rates were registered in Denmark (2.3%) and the Netherlands (2.6%), and the highest in Spain (11.0%) and Slovakia (10.3%).

According to Eurostat, compared with the previous year, twenty Member States recorded a fall in their unemployment rate, six an increase and in one the rate remained stable. The largest falls were observed in Poland (9.5% to 6.8%) and Denmark (4.1% to 2.3%), and the highest increases in Spain (8.2% to 11.0%) and Ireland (4.6% to 5.9%).

Making an analysis in terms of gender, the unemployment rate for males increased from 6.6% to 6.7% between July 2007 and July 2008 in the Euro area, while in the EU27 it fell from 6.6% to 6.4%. The female unemployment rate declined in both in the Euro area and in AU27, from 8.4% to 8.1% and 7.7% to 7.2% respectively.

Unemployment rate among young people under 25 in July, was 14.7% in the Euro area and 14.6% in the EU27. The lowest rates were observed in the Netherlands (4.5%) and in Denmark (4.9%),  while the highest were in Spain (24.8%) and Greece (22.7% in the first quarter 2008).