Bulgaria Leads EU in Unemployment Rate Fall

The seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate in the European Union reached 8,5% in February 2009.

The data was released Wednesday by Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Communities.

In comparison, the unemployment rate was 8,3% in January and 7,2% in February 2008.

The unemployment rate in the entire European Union (EU) was 7,9% in February 2009, compared with 7,7% in January. It was 6,8% in February 2008.

Eurostat estimates that 19 156 million men and women in the EU, of which 13.486 million were in the Euro Area, were unemployed in February 2009. Compared with January, the number of persons unemployed increased by 478 000 in the EU and by 319 000 in the Euro Area.

Compared with February 2008, unemployment went up by 3.019 million in the EU and by 2 125 million in the Euro Area.

Among the Member States, the lowest unemployment rate was recorded in the Netherlands (2,7%), and the highest rates in Spain (15,5%), Latvia (14,4%) and Lithuania (13,7%).

The largest unemployment rate falls were observed in Bulgaria (6,2% to 5,5%) and Slovakia (10,2% to 9,8%), and the highest increases in Lithuania (4,4% to 13.7%), Latvia (6,1% to 14,4%) and Spain (9,3% to 15,5%).

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