On January 31, Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Communities, reported that the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in the European Union member states (EU-27) was 9.9 percent in December 2011, remaining unchanged compared to November. The unemployment rate in the region was 9.5 percent in December 2010.
Among the member states, the lowest unemployment rates were recorded in Austria at 4.1 percent, in the Netherlands at 4.9 percent and in Luxembourg at 5.2 percent, while the highest rates were seen in Spain at 22.9 percent, in Greece at 19.2 percent (in October 2011) and in Lithuania at 15.3 percent (in Q3 2011).
Meanwhile, in December 2011, the unemployment rate in the US was 8.5 percent, while in November 2011 Japan's unemployment rate was 4.5 percent.