Unemployment rate remains unchanged in EU

Unemployment rate remains unchanged in EU

As per the data released by EU statistics institution Eurostat, the average unemployment rate in 25 member states of European Union (EU) was recorded as 9% in March 2004. This average was also 9% in March 2003. Moreover, the average unemployment rate in Euro zone was stable at 8.8% in March 2004. The average has showed no change compared to previous month and the same period of last year. In March 2004, lowest unemployment rates were recorded in Luxembourg with 4.1%, Ireland and Austria with 4.5% for each and Cyprus, Netherlands and UK with 4.7% for each while the highest rates were registered in Poland with 19%, Slovakia with 16.5% and Spain with 11.1%. Eurostat estimates that, in March, 12.4 million people were unemployed in the Euro zone and 19.1 million people in the EU. According to the information provided by Eurostat, the unemployment rate for the same period is recorded as 5.7% in US and 4.7% in Japan.