According to Eurostat, the unemployment figure across Belgium, Germany, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Italy, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Austria, Portugal, Slovenia, Slovakia and Finland stood at 9.2% in April 2009.
And in Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Italy, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Hungary, Malta, the Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Finland, Sweden and the United Kingdom (UK) unemployment rate was 9.7% in April 2010, unchanged compared with March. It was 8.7% in April 2009.
Eurostat estimates 23.311 million European men and women were unemployed in April 2010.
Compared with March 2010, the number of persons unemployed increased by 25 000. Compared with April 2009, unemployment went up by 2.400 million.
Among the European Union member states, the lowest unemployment rates were recorded in the Netherlands (4.1%) and Austria (4.9%), and the highest rates in Latvia (22.5%), Spain (19.7%) and Estonia (19.0% in the first quarter of 2010).
Compared with a year ago, one member state recorded a fall in the unemployment rate and 26 an increase. The fall was observed in Germany (7.6% to 7.1%), and the smallest increases in Luxembourg (5.3% to 5.4%) and Malta (6.9% to 7.0%). The highest increases were registered in Estonia (11.0% to 19.0% between the first quarters of 2009 and 2010), Latvia (15.4% to 22.5%) and Lithuania (11.2% to 17.4% between the first quarters of 2009 and 2010).
