Brussels, 04/03/2003 (Agence Europe) - The Euro-zone seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate went from 8.5% in December 2002 to 8.6% in January 2003, according to figures published on Tuesday by Eurostat, which points out that the unemployment rate was 8.1% in January 2002. The average unemployment rate in the EU for January 2003 is estimated at 7.9%, as against 7.8% in December 2002 (and 7.4% in January 2002).
In January 2003, the lowest rates were registered in Luxembourg (2.7%), the Netherlands (3.1% in December), Austria (4.1%), Ireland (4.5%) and Denmark (4.7% in December). Spain's unemployment rate (12.1%) remains the highest in the EU. Among the twelve Member States for which figures are available for the last two months, eleven recorded a rise in their unemployment rate over the last twelve months. The most important relative increases were recorded in Portugal (for 4.2% to 6.1%), the Netherlands (from 2.4% in December 2001 to 3.1% in December 2002) and Luxembourg (from 2.1% to 2.7%). Unemployment in Finland dropped from 9.2% to 9.0%.
In January 2003, and compared to January 2002, the unemployment rate for men in the Euro-zone increased from 6.9% to 7.5%, and from 9.6% to 10.1% for women. In the EU15, the unemployment rate for men grew from 6.6% in January 2002 to 7.1% in January 2003. Over the same period, the female rate increased from 8.5% to 8.9%. In January 2003, the unemployment rate for the under-25s was 16.5% in the Euro-zone and 15.3% in the EU15, compared to 15.8% and 14.7% respectively in January 2002. The rate ranged from 5.9% in the Netherlands (in December 2002) to 22.7% in Spain. Eurostat estimates that in January 2003, 12 million men and women were without work in the Euro-zone and 13.9 million in the EU15. For purposes of comparison, the unemployment rate for January was 5.7% in the United States and 5.5% in Japan.
An unemployment rate of 14.7% in the future Member States
Eurostat indicates that the unemployment rate in the candidate countries was 14.7% in January (compared to 14.8% in December 2002), including: 3.8% for Cyprus, 6.8% for the Czech Republic, 8.3% for Estonia, 5.8% for Hungary, 12.4% for Lithuania, 12.0% for Latvia, 20.2% for Poland, and 17.7% for Slovakia. The January figures are unavailable for Malta (7.5% in December 2002) and Slovenia (5.9% in December 2002).