Latvia tops EU unemployment

Nov 02, 2009
Oskars Magone

RIGA – Recently released data from Eurostat – the European Union's official statistics agency – in September Latvia's jobless rate became the highest in the EU at 19.7 percent.

Latvia took the title of highest unemployment rate from Spain, which is now the second worst at 19.3 percent. The other Baltic states follow Spain, with an unemployment rate of 13.8 percent in Lithuania and 13.3 percent in Estonia.

Latvia also has the distinction of having the largest increase in the jobless rate – up from 8.1 percent a year ago, an increase of 11.6 percent. Latvia is followed by Estonia, which saw its unemployment rate increase from 4.1 percent over the past year.

The highest level of joblessness was 28.1 percent in Rezekne region, while the lowest was in Tukums at 9 percent, the statistics agency reported.

The average unemployment rate in the EU now stands at 9.7 percent – 0.1 percent lower than in the United States. The bloc's top performer is the Netherlands, with a jobless rate of 3.6 percent, followed by Austria with 4.8 percent.

Eurostat said 22.12 million people in the EU were now out of work.

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