August EU Jobless Steady at 8 Percent

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It said the 8 percent rate for the 25 nation EU compared with 8.7 percent in August 2005.

In August, the lowest jobless rates were registered in Denmark (3.7 percent), the Netherlands (3.8 percent), Estonia (4.2 percent), Ireland (4.4 percent), Luxembourg and Austria (both 4.8 percent), Eurostat said.

Unemployment was highest in Poland (15 percent), Slovakia (13.1 percent), France (8.8 percent) and Belgium (8.6 percent).

Of the 25 EU nations, 17 recorded a drop in the unemployment rate over the past year, two remained stable and five reported an increase. Eurostat had no figures for Greece, which calculates its unemployment quarterly. The largest relative declines were seen in Estonia (7.5 percent to 4.2 percent), Lithuania (7.7 percent to 5.7 percent), Denmark (4.7 percent to 3.7 percent) and Latvia (8.9 percent to 7.2 percent).

The highest relative increases were registered in the United Kingdom (4.6 percent to 5.4 percent) and Hungary (7.3 percent to 7.6 percent).

In August, the U.S. unemployment rate was 4.7 percent and Japan's was 4.2 percent, Eurostat said.

Eurostat put unemployment rate for people under 25 at 17 percent in the euro area and 17.5 percent in the EU as a whole, down from 17.5 percent and 18.3 percent respectively in August 2005.

The lowest under 25 rates were observed in the Netherlands (6.3 percent), Denmark (7.2 percent) and Ireland (8.2 percent) and the highest in Poland (30.9 percent) and Slovakia (26 percent).