Good news on the front of efforts to reduce unemployment in Europe, according to the latest data published by Eurostat last week and referring to November 2006. The unemployment rate in the eurozone thus fell to 7.6%: a drop of a tenth of a percentage point over the figure for the previous month and seven tenths over the same figure in 2005. Improvements have also been registered in the EU-25, where unemployment was calculated at 7.7% for November 2006 (against 7.8% in October and 8.6% in the same period of the previous year), equivalent to 16.9 million citizens without work. The lowest unemployment rates were registered in Denmark (3.3%), Holland (3.8%), Ireland (4.2%), Estonia (4.6%) and Austria (4,6%); the highest – even if the situation is improving here – in Poland (13.6%), Slovakia (12.3%), Greece (8.7%), France (8.6%) and Spain (8.4%). During the period 2005 – November 2006, only three member states registered a growth in unemployment: the UK (from 4.9% to 5.5%), Luxembourg (from 4.5% to 4.8%) and Hungary (from 7.4% to 7,7%). Significant reductions were also registered throughout the EU in terms of unemployment of women and youth below the age of 25: the percentages of both fell respectively to 8.9% and 16.7%. With these figures the European Union has further reduced its disparity in terms of unemployment in relation to the USA (4,5%) and Japan (4%).
