Euro zone unemployment was flat in June against May at 9.9 percent of the workfoce as expected by economists, data showed on Monday. The European Union's statistics office Eurostat said 15.64 million people were without work in the 17 countries using the euro in June, up by 18,000 against May, but 346,000 less than in the same period of 2010.
In the whole of the European Union of 27 countries, the unemployment rate was 9.4 percent in June, the same as in May. The eurozone economy is recovering from a recession and the recovery has become self-sustaining, the European Commission has said, but unemployment is a lagging indicator, which responds with a delay to trends in the economy.
Unemployment was highest in Spain at 21 percent, with Ireland second with 14.2 percent. Data for Greece, which is struggling with reforms and budget austerity measures was not available. The lowest unemployment rate was in Austria, at 4.0 percent and in the Netherlands at 4.1 percent. The rate in Germany, the eurozone's biggest economy, was unchanged at 6.1 percent in June from May.