Unemployment in the 17-member Eurozone increased to 12% in August, up from 11.5% a year earlier, according to Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union. In the EU28 countries, unemployment is 10.9%, up from 10.6% in August 2012, showing that the gap is widening between European countries that are in the single currency and those that are not.

In August 2013, 26.6m men and women were unemployed in the EU28, of whom 19.2m were in the Eurozone.

Among the countries, the lowest unemployment rates were recorded in Austria (4.9%), Germany (5.2%), and Luxembourg (5.8%), and the highest in Greece (27.9% in June 2013) and Spain (26.2%).

Compared with a year ago, the unemployment rate increased in 16 countries, fell in 11 and remained stable in Poland.

The highest increases were registered in Cyprus (12.3% to 16.9%) and Greece

(24.6% to 27.9%) The largest decreases were observed in Latvia (15.6% to 11.4%) and Estonia (10.1% to 7.9%).

In August 2013, 5.5m young persons (under 25) were unemployed in the EU28, of whom 3.5m were in the Eurozone. Compared with August 2012, youth unemployment decreased by 123,000 in the EU28 and by 52,000 in the Eurozone.