Eurostat: LT unemployment above EU average

  • 2009-01-30
  • TBT Staff in cooperation with BNS
VILNIUS - A recent report from Eurostat, the European Union's statistics agency, has found that Baltic unemployment rates have risen above the EU average.

Lithuania and Latvia's unemployment rate has nearly doubled over the course of the past year. The report found that now all three Baltic states have unemployment rates above the EU average -- a significant turnaround from when the economies were booming and unemployment was virtually non-existent.

Unemployment in Lithuania was 8 percent in Dec, climbing above the 7.4 EUaverage, Eurostat data showed. The other two Baltic countries had evenhigher unemployment rates, with 10.4 percent in Latvia and 9.2 percent in Estonia.

Spain was the only country to have higher unemployment in December thanLatvia, with 14.4 percent unemployment. Lowest unemployment levels were inthe Netherlands with 2.7 percent, and Austria with 3.9 percent.