Unemployment is stable in the Euro zone. Eurostat the statistics bureau of the Community has published the data for October 2004, according to which the average unemployment rate of the countries of the Euro zone remained unvaried at 8.9%, the same as for September, and the same as that registered last year. The same percentage, 8.9%, also applies to the 25-member Europe, with a slight dip of 0.1% over September 2004 and 0.2% over October 2003. The lowest unemployment was registered in Luxembourg (4.3%, though this is sharply rising), Ireland (4.4%), Austria and the UK (4.5%); the highest rates are registered in Poland (18.6%), Slovakia (17.7%), Spain (10.5%) and Lithuania (10.1%, sharply improving). Of the 19.1 million unemployed in the EU, the percentage of men has risen to 8.2% in the 25-member EU, that of women to 9.9% (though lower than that that in the Euro zone, where over one woman out of every ten is without work), and that of youth below the age of 25 to 18.2% (touching high points of 39% in Poland and 31.4% in Slovakia). For further information, www.europa.eu.int/eurostat
