Unemployment in the EU

Ever wondered why there are so many Poles in Britain? Here's the unemployment statistics for the EU for April 2006:


eurozone = country that is a member of the euro
ERM II = country whose currency is in an exchange rate mechanism with the euro

Country                           Unemployment Rate


Netherlands (eurozone)              3.8%
Denmark (ERM II)                    4.3%
Ireland (eurozone)                  4.3%
Luxembourg (eurozone)               4.8%
Austria (eurozone)                  4.9%
Estonia (ERM II)                    5.1%
United Kingdom                      5.3%
Latvia (ERM II)                     6.0%
Cyprus (ERM II)                     6.3%
Slovenia (ERM II)                   7.0%
Hungary                             7.4%
Czech Republic                      7.5%
Finland (eurozone)                  7.5%
Portugal (eurozone)                 7.6%
Italy (eurozone)                    7.7%
Germany (eurozone)                  8.0%
Spain (eurozone)                    8.3%
Belgium (eurozone)                  8.4%
Malta (ERM II)                      8.5%
France (eurozone)                   8.9%
Greece (eurozone)                   9.6%
Slovakia (ERM II)                  15.5%
Poland                             16.5%

Notes: The Eurostat definition of unemployed people are those aged 15 - 74
and who, following the International Labour Organisation (ILO) definition are

- without work

- are available to start work within the next two weeks

- and have actively sought work at some time in the previous four weeks

The unemployment rate is the number of people unemployed as a percentage of the labour force. The labour force is the total number of people employed and unemployed.

Sweden has just adopted the EU Harmonised calculation of unemployment and sesonally adjusted time series are not available. The Swedish government's calculation is unemployment of 5%

To be fair to the Poles, their position has improved from last year when their unemployment was 18.1%. They should take heart from the Spaniards. When Spain joined the EU 23 years ago, their unemployment was over 25%, it has been dropping steadily ever since.