Eurozone: EU25 unemployment down to 8.8%; Ireland lowest at 4.2%

Eurozone

EU25 unemployment down to 8.8%; Ireland lowest at 4.2%

In May 2005, the lowest rates were registered in Ireland (4.2%), Austria (4.6%), the United Kingdom (4.6% in March), Luxembourg (4.7%) and Denmark (4.9% in April). Unemployment rates were highest in Poland (17.8%), Slovakia (15.5%), Greece (10.2% in December 2004), Spain (9.9%) and France (9.8%).Amongst the Member States, fourteen recorded a decrease in their unemployment rate over a year, two remained stable and nine reported an increase. The largest relative decreases were observed in Lithuania (11.2% to 8.1%), Estonia (9.6% to 7.9%), Slovakia (18.7% to 15.5%) and Denmark (5.5% in April 2004 to 4.9% in April 2005), while Luxembourg (4.2% to 4.7%), Cyprus (4.6% to 5.1%) and Portugal (6.5% to 7.2%) registered the highest relative increases. In May 2005 compared to May 2004, the unemployment rate for males was stable at 7.6% in the euro-zone and decreased from 8.1% to 7.9% in the EU25. The female unemployment rate fell from 10.6% to 10.3% in the euro-zone and from 10.3% to 9.9% in the EU25.In May 2005, the unemployment rate for under-25s was 17.8% in the euro-zone and 18.3% in the EU25. In May 2004 it was 18.5% and 19.1% respectively. The lowest rates for under-25s were observed in Denmark (7.2% in April), Ireland (7.9%) and the Netherlands (9.5%) and the highest in Poland (36.0%), Slovakia (26.7%), Greece (26.2% in December 2004) and Italy (24.2% in March). Eurostat estimates that, in May 2005, 12.8 million men and women were unemployed in the euro-zone and 19.1 million in the EU25. These are seasonally-adjusted figures in line with ILO criteria. In May 2005, the US unemployment rate was 5.1% and the Japanese rate was 4.4% in April.