Eurostat – The Statistics Bureau of the European Community – released data on unemployment related to the past month of September, according to which the downhill trend begun in June 2005 still continues. In the thirteen Countries of Euroland, the percentage rate stopped at 7.3% (it was at 7.4% in August and at 8.1% in September 2006), while for the 27 EU countries the mean figure is 7% (compared to 7.1 six months ago and to 8% a year ago). The lowest unemployment rate was registered in The Netherlands with 3.1% and Denmark (3.3%) while highest percentages figure in Slovakia (11.1%) and Poland (8%), despite the fact that the latter registered the most conspicuous decrease (-4.1%) in the course of the last year. Only three Countries underwent an increase in unemployment since September 2006: Estonia (from 5.6% to 5.7%), Ireland (from 4.1% to 4.8%) and Portugal (from 7.6% to 8.3%). Whereas data concerning unemployment of youth under 25 is still reason for concern since in Greece, France, Portugal and Poland they amount to 20% or more. On the whole, according to Eurostat, the unemployed in the EU amount to 16.7 million.
