Eurostat estimates that 26.521 million men and women in the EU27, of whom 19.211 million were in the Euro Area, were unemployed in March 2013. Compared with February 2013, the number of persons unemployed increased by 69 000 in the EU27 and by 62 000 in the Euro Area. Compared with March 2012, unemployment rose by 1.814 million in the EU27 and by 1.723 million in the Euro Area.
Among the Member States, the lowest unemployment rates were recorded in Austria (4.7 percent), Germany (5.4 percent) and Luxembourg (5.7 percent), and the highest in Greece (27.2 percent in January), Spain (26.7 percent) and Portugal (17.5 percent).
Compared with a year ago, the unemployment rate increased in nineteen Member States and fell in eight. The highest increases were registered in Greece (21.5 percent to 27.2 percent between January 2012 and January 2013), Cyprus (10.7 percent to 14.2 percent), Spain (24.1 percent to 26.7 percent) and Portugal (15.1 percent to 17.5 percent). The largest decreases were observed in Latvia (15.6 percent to 14.3 percent between the fourth quarters of 2011 and 2012), Estonia (10.6 percent to 9.4 percent between February 2012 and February 2013) and Ireland (15.0 percent to 14.1 percent).