On June 2, Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Communities, reported that the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in the European Union member states (EU-27) was 9.6 percent in May this year, remaining unchanged compared to the revised April levels. The unemployment rate in the region was 8.9 percent in May 2009. The unemployment rate in the EU-27, which increased steadily beginning from the second quarter of 2008, has trended sideways for the last three months.
Among the member states, the lowest unemployment rates were recorded in Austria at four percent and in the Netherlands at 4.3 percent, and the highest rates were seen in Latvia at 20 percent and in Spain at 19.9 percent.
Meanwhile, in the US the unemployment rate was 9.7 percent in May this year, while in Japan the unemployment rate was 5.2 percent.