The unemployment rate in the EU remains stable. According to the data published in recent days by Eurostat – the Commission’s statistical office the average for the 15 member states was 8%, compared with 7.7% in 2002. The percentage increases if we take into consideration the Euro area alone, where the rate rose from 8.5% in August 2002 to the present 8.8%. The analysis for individual states reveals that Luxembourg retains the lowest unemployment rate of 3.8%, and that only Austria, Ireland and Holland have maintained their rates below the threshold of 5%. At the other end of the spectrum is Spain, which with its 11.4% is confirmed as the EU country with the highest unemployment rate. Finland, France and Germany also exceed the EU average; Italy registered 8.5%. In the EU, according to Eurostat estimates, there are 14.3 million unemployed.
