European Unemployment on the Rise

Unemployment in the Euro-area (the 16 countries currently using the euro as currency) rose to 9.5 percent according to a report recently released by Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Communities. This marks the highest unemployment rate in a decade for the 16 countries.

Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, TX) reports that the newly released rate shows a 0.2 percent increase over April's reported number of 9.3 percent. The rate represents approximately 15 million unemployed workers. The lowest unemployment rates include those of the Netherlands at 3.2 percent and Austria at 4.3 percent. Hardest hit countries of the Euro area include Spain at 18.7 percent, as well as Ireland and Slovakia, both of which have unemployment rates of more than 11 percent.

European figures reflect the international state of employment during this overall economic decline. Eurostat reports that the unemployment rate for all 27 member countries of the European Union is 8.9 percent. Unemployment estimates are currently 9.5 percent in the U.S., or about 14.7 million workers. Japan, with the world's second-largest economy, reported what seems a more promising rate of 5.2 percent, but this figure represents a five-year high in unemployment for the country.

All countries use the generally accepted guidelines from the International Labor Organization to define and determine unemployment levels, chiefly the percentage of unemployed individuals available and searching for work versus those that are employed. While countries use slightly different age minimums and maximums in their calculations, results are generally comparable. Working sectors hardest hit by job losses are also globally consistent and include large declines in manufacturing, professional and business services, and construction.