” ” The highest unemployment rate is found in Spain (11.3%), followed by Slovakia (9.9) and France (8.0). The opposite is true, instead, in the Netherlands (2,6%). Eurostat portrays the employment market in the European Union, showing that "in the euro-zone the average unemployment rate settled at 7.5% in August 2008, versus 7.4% the month before". The same figure, 7.4%, had been recorded in July 2007. Instead, in the 27 member states, the unemployment rate is still 6.9%. According to the estimates of the Statistics Office of the EU Commission, 16.5 million men and women were looking for a job in August all over the EU. It means that the number of unemployed people has risen by about 100 thousand units in just one month. There are remarkable differences between one country and the next: the most difficult situations can be found in Spain, Slovakia, France, Hungary, Portugal, Greece and Germany; while the most dynamic markets are those of the Netherlands, Denmark, Austria, Cyprus, Estonia and Luxembourg. Of the largest countries, Poland is the one that keeps recording the fastest decrease in its unemployment rate. Also in August 2008, youth unemployment, concerning people under 25 years of age, had risen to 14.9% in the euro-zone and in the 27 member states alike.
