Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Communities, has announced that in October of the current year the unemployment rate in the European Union member states (EU-28) was 9.3 percent, remaining stable compared to September but down from 10.1 percent in the same month last year. This is the lowest rate recorded in the EU-28 since September 2009. The seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate in the euro area was 10.7 percent in October, down from 10.8 percent in the previous month and decreasing from 11.5 percent in October 2014.
In October this year, the unemployment rate in the EU-28 fell in 24 states and increased in four states, on year-on-year basis. Among the EU-28 member states, in October the lowest employment rates were recorded in Germany (4.5%), the Czech Republic (4.7%) and Malta (5.1%), and the highest in Greece (24.6% in August 2015) and Spain (21.6%).
Meanwhile, in October this year the unemployment rate in the United States was five percent, down from 5.1 percent in the previous month and declining from 5.7 percent in October 2014.