8.9% is the unemployment rate registered both in the Euro area and in the 25-member EU in December 2004. That’s the figure that emerges from the data published by Eurostat the Eu statistical office according to which the countries with the lowest number of unemployed are Ireland (4.3%), Luxembourg (4.4%) and Austria (4.5%), while Poland (18.3%) and Slovakia (16.9%) are at the opposite extreme of the classification. In the course of the calendar year 2004, nine member states registered a growth of unemployment (especially Holland, Cyprus, Luxembourg and Hungary), while twelve registered on the contrary a growth in employment (in particular Lithuania, Estonia and Malta). According to Eurostat estimates, confirmed by the International Labour Office, there were just over 19 million unemployed in the European Union at 31 December 2004.
