The Eurozone (EU17) seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate was 12.2% in April 2013, up from 12.1% in March, according to the European Statistical Office (Eurostat).

The unemployment rate for the larger EU27 countries was 11.0%, unchanged compared with the previous month. In both zones, rates have risen markedly compared with April 2012, when they were 11.2% and 10.3% respectively.

Eurostat estimates that 26.6m men and women in the EU27, of whom 19.4m were in the Eurozone, were unemployed in April 2013. Compared with March 2013, the number of persons unemployed increased by 104,000 in the EU27 and by 95,000 in the Eurozone.

Compared with April 2012, unemployment rose by 1.7m in the EU27 but nearly all of those jobs lost (1.6m) were in the Eurozone.

Within the EU, the lowest unemployment rates were recorded in Austria (4.9%), Germany (5.4%) and Luxembourg (5.6%). Unsurprisingly, the highest unemployment rates were in Greece (27.0% in February 2013), Spain (26.8%) and Portugal (17.8%).

Compared with a year ago, the unemployment rate increased in 18 countries and fell in 9, with the highest increases registered in Greece (21.9% to 27.0% between February 2012 and February 2013), Cyprus (11.2% to 15.6%), Spain (24.4% to 26.8%) and Portugal (15.4% to 17.8%). The largest decreases were observed in Latvia (down from 15.5% to 12.4% between the first quarters of 2012 and 2013), Estonia (10.6% to 8.7% between March 2012 and March 2013) and Ireland (14.9% to 13.5%).