Luxembourg, 03/02/2003 (Agence Europe) - According to data published on 3 February by Eurostat, the rate of unemployment in the euro zone rose to 8.5% in December 2002, the same figure as that for the month of November. It was 8.1% in December 2001. The EU15 unemployment rate was 7.8% in December 2002, compared to 7.7% in November. It was 7.4% in December 2001. In December 2002, lowest rates were registered in Luxembourg (2.7%), the Netherlands (2.9% in November), Austria (4.2%), Ireland (4.4%) and Denmark (4.7%). Spain's 12.0% remained the EU's highest rate.
Among the twelve 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. Portugal (4.2% to 5.8%), Luxembourg (2.1% to 2.7%), the Netherlands (2.4% in November 2001 to 2.9% in November 2002), and Spain (10.7% to 12.0%) recorded the most important relative increases. Finland's rate decreased from 9.2% to 9.0%. In December 2002 compared to December 2001, the unemployment rate for males in the euro-zone grew from 6.9% to 7.4%, and the female unemployment rate rose from 9.6% to 9.9%. In the EU15 the unemployment rate for males grew from 6.6% in December 2001 to 7.0% in December 2002. Over the same period the female rate increased from 8.5% to 8.8%. In December 2002, the unemployment rate for under-25s was 16.3% in the euro-zone and 15.1% in the EU15, compared to 15.8% and 14.7% respectively in December 2001. The rate ranged from 5.5% in the Netherlands (in November 2002) to 22.2% in Spain.
By way of comparison, in December 2002, the US unemployment rate was 6.0% and the Japanese rate was 5.5%. Eurostat estimates that, in December 2002, 11.9 million men and women were unemployed in the euro-zone and 13.8 million in the EU15. These are seasonally-adjusted figures in line with ILO criteria.