On February 1, Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Communities, reported that the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in the European Union member states (EU-27) was 10 percent in December 2010, remaining unchanged compared to the revised November level. The unemployment rate in the region was 9.5 percent in December 2009.
Eurostat estimates that 23.18 million men and women in the EU-27, of whom 15.78 million were in the euro area, were unemployed in December 2010.
Among the member states, the lowest unemployment rates were recorded in the Netherlands at 4.3 percent and in Austria at five percent, and the highest rates were seen in Spain at 20.2 percent as well as in Latvia and Lithuania at 18.3 percent.
In December 2010, the unemployment rate was 9.4 percent in the USA and 4.9 percent in Japan.