Brussels, 03/10/2002 (Agence Europe) - Figures released by Eurostat on Wednesday show that the unemployment rate stood at 8.3% in August 2002, unchanged compared to July but rose 0.3% compared to last year (8.0%) in August 2001. The EU15 unemployment rate was 7.7% in August, unchanged compared to July. It was 7.3% in August 2001. According to Eurostat, in August 2002, 11.5 million men and women were unemployed in the euro-zone and 13.5 million in the EU15.
In August 2002, lowest rates were registered in Luxembourg (2.5%), the Netherlands (2.8% in July), Austria (4.2%), Denmark (4.3%), Ireland (4.5%) and Portugal (4.6%). Spain's 11.3% remained the EU's highest rate. In France the unemployment rate stood at 8.9% in August and 8.3% in Germany. Among the thirteen Member States for which data are available for the most recent two months, eleven recorded an increase in their unemployment rate in the last twelve months. Luxembourg (2.0% to 2.5%), the Netherlands (2.3% in July 2001 to 2.8% in July 2002), Ireland (3.8% to 4.5%), and Austria (3.6% to 4.2%) recorded the most important relative increases. Italy's rate decreased from 9.5% (in July 2001) to 9.0% (in July 2002) whilst Denmark's remained stable at 4.3%. The annual unemployment rate for males in the euro-zone grew from 6.7% to 7.2%, and the female unemployment rate rose from 9.7% to 9.8%. The EU15 unemployment rate for males grew from 6.4% to 6.9% and over the same period the female rate increased from 8.5% to 8.6%. Eurostat points out that in August the US unemployment rate was 5.7% and the Japanese rate 5.4%.