Unemployment rate in EU remains unchanged
As per the data released from EU statistics institution Eurostat, the average unemployment rate in the 15 member states of European Union (EU) was stable at 8% as of November 2003. This average was 7.8% in 2002. Moreover, the average unemployment rate in Euro zone remained at 8.8% in November 2003. The average a year earlier was 8.6%. In November 2003, lowest unemployment rates were recorded in Luxembourg with 3.9%, Austria with 4.5% and Ireland with 4.6% while the highest rate was registered in Spain with 11.3%. Eurostat estimates that, in November 2003, 12.3 million people were unemployed in the Euro zone and 14.2 million people in the EU. According to the information provided by Eurostat, the unemployment rate for the same period is recorded as 5.9% in US and 5.2% in Japan.