On January 29, 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 December 2009, compared with 9.5 percent registered in November. The unemployment rate in the region was 7.6 percent in December 2008. The December 2009 figure is the highest rate registered since the data first started to be recorded in January 2000.
Among the member states, the lowest unemployment rates were recorded in the Netherlands at four percent and in Austria at 5.4 percent, and the highest rates were seen in Latvia at 22.8 percent and in Spain at 19.5 percent.
Meanwhile, in the US the unemployment rate was 10 percent in December 2009. In Japan the rate was 5.2 percent in November 2009.