104/2012 - 4 July 2012
Unemployment in the EU27 regions
Regional unemployment rates in 2011 ranged from 2.5% in Salzburg and Tirol to 30.4% in Andalucia Regional unemployment rates1 varied widely across the 271 NUTS 2 regions2 of the EU27 in 2011, with the lowest rates recorded in the regions of Tirol and Salzburg (both 2.5%) in Austria, Zeeland (2.7%) in the Netherlands and Oberbayern (2.8%), Niederbayern (2.9%) and Freiburg (3.0%) in Germany, while the highest rates were registered in the regions of Andalucía (30.4%) and Canarias (29.7%) in Spain and the French Overseas Department of Réunion3 (29.6%). Among the regions, 44 had an unemployment rate of 4.8% or less in 2011, half the average for the EU27. They included sixteen regions in Germany, ten of the twelve regions in the Netherlands, eight out of nine regions in Austria, four in Belgium, two in Italy and one each in the Czech Republic, France, Romania and the United Kingdom. At the other extreme, seventeen regions had a rate of 19.2% or higher, double that of the EU27: ten regions in Spain, four French Overseas Departments and three regions in Greece. These data4 on regional unemployment, compiled on the basis of the EU Labour Force Survey, are published by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.
Female unemployment rates varied from 2.7% in Tirol to 39.1% in Ceuta In the EU27 in 2011 the female unemployment rate was slightly higher than the male rate (9.8% compared with 9.5%). This was also evident at regional level, with the female unemployment rate being higher than the male rate in 141 regions, the male rate being higher in 118 regions and the rates being equal in 6 regions. In 2011, the female unemployment rate varied between 2.7% in Tirol in Austria and 39.1% in Ceuta in Spain, while the male rate ranged from 2.3% in Zeeland in the Netherlands and Salzburg and Tirol in Austria to 29.7% in the Canarias in Spain.
Unemployment rates for young people varied from 4.3% in Tübingen to 65.8% in Ceuta In 2011, the average unemployment rate for young people aged between 15 and 24 in the EU27 was 21.4%. Regional differences in the unemployment rate for young people are however very marked. In the EU27 in 2011, the lowest rates for young people were recorded in the German regions of Tübingen (4.3%), Oberbayern (4.5%) and Freiburg (4.8%), and the highest in Ceuta (65.8%) in Spain and the French Overseas Departments of Réunion (58.5%), and Martinique (56.8%). In more than three quarters of the EU27 regions the unemployment rate for young people was at least twice that for total unemployment.
Long term-unemployment share varied from 4.0% in Åland to 82.1% in Guadeloupe The long-term unemployment share, which is defined as the percentage of unemployed persons who have been unemployed for 12 months or more, stood at 43.1% on average in the EU27 in 2011, and varied significantly across the regions. In the EU27 in 2011, the lowest shares of long-term unemployed were recorded in Åland (4.0%) in Finland, Bucureşti-Ilfov (5.3%) in Romania, North Eastern Scotland (10.0%) in the United Kingdom and Tirol (13.1%) and Salzburg (13.5%) in Austria, and the highest in the French Overseas Departments of Guadeloupe (82.1%), Guyane (77.6%) and Martinique (76.8%). In 60 regions more than half of the unemployed had been out of work for at least 12 months.