Unemployment in the EU

Unemployment in the EU

The average unemployment rate in the 15 member states of the European Union (EU) is recorded as 7.9% as of end February 2003. This rate refers to a figure of 141.1 millon unemployed in the EU. According to the information provided by the EU's statistics institution Eurostat, the unemployment rate for the same period is recorded as 5.8% in the US and 5.2% in Japan. The EU's unemployment rates on country basis are; 2.8% in Luxembourg, 3.4% in the Netherlands, 4.2% in Austria, 4.5% in Ireland, 5% in Denmark, 5.1% in Sweden, 6.7% in Portugal, 7.7% in Belgium, 8.7% in Germany, 8.8% in Finland, 9% in Italy, 9.1% in France and 11.9% in Spain.