On August 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 9.6 percent in July this year, remaining unchanged compared to the revised June levels. The unemployment rate in the region was 9.1 percent in July 2009. The unemployment rate in the EU-27, which increased steadily beginning from the second quarter of 2008, has trended sideways for the last five months.
Among the member states, the lowest unemployment rates were recorded in Austria at 3.8 percent and in the Netherlands at 4.4 percent (in June 2010), and the highest rates were seen in Spain at 20.3 percent and in Estonia at 18.6 percent (in Q2 2010).
Meanwhile, in the US the unemployment rate was 9.5 percent in July this year, while in Japan the unemployment rate was 5.2 percent.