Eurozone countries in blue - rest of EU25 in pink

Regional unemployment rates¹ varied widely across the EU25 in 2005, from 2.6% in the region of Herefordshire, Worcestershire & Warwickshire in the United Kingdom, to 30.1% in Réunion in France. In the EU25 as a whole, unemployment fell from 9.2% in 2004 to 9.0% in 2005. At regional level, rates fell in 47% of the 252 NUTS 2² regions of the EU25 for which data is available.

Of these 252 regions, 43 had an unemployment rate of 4.5% or less in 2005, i.e. half the average for the EU25. They included 22 regions in the United Kingdom, seven in Italy, five in Austria, four in the Netherlands, both regions in Ireland, one region each in Belgium and the Czech Republic, as well as Luxembourg. At the other extreme, 23 regions had a rate of 18.0% or higher, i.e. double that of the EU25: eight regions each in Poland and Germany, four in France (all of the Overseas Departments), two in Slovakia and one in Spain.

The data on regional unemployment, compiled on the basis of the EU Labour Force Survey, are taken from a report³ published by Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Communities. This report contains further analysis of employment and unemployment rates and working migration in the EU regions.

Unemployment rate amongst women varied from 2.3% to 33.3%

Between 2004 and 2005, the overall unemployment rate for women in the EU25 fell from 10.1% to 9.9%. At regional level, female unemployment was lowest in 2005 in four regions of the United Kingdom: Herefordshire, Worcestershire & Warwickshire (2.3%), East Wales (2.5%), Gloucestershire, Wiltshire & North Somerset and Dorset & Somerset (both 3.1%). The female unemployment rate was highest in Réunion (33.3%) and Guadeloupe (29.5%), both French Overseas Departments. The female unemployment rate was higher than the male rate in more than three quarters of the regions.

Unemployment rate amongst young people lowest in Dutch regions

Between 2004 and 2005, the overall unemployment rate for young people aged 15 to 24 in the EU25 rose slightly from 18.5% to 18.7%. Regional differences in the unemployment rate for young people are also very marked. In the EU25 in 2005, the lowest rates for young people were recorded in Zeeland (6.2%), Noord-Brabant (6.5%) and Utrecht (6.8%), all in the Netherlands, and the highest in Guadeloupe (59.1%), Réunion (52.2%) and Calabria (46.1%) in Italy.

In 27 EU25 regions the unemployment rate for young people was less than 10% in 2005: ten in the Netherlands, five in the United Kingdom, four in Austria, both regions in Ireland, two in Germany, one each in the Czech Republic, Italy and Slovakia, as well as Denmark. In eleven regions the rate was over 40%: four in Poland, three in France (all Overseas Departments), two in Italy and one each in Greece and Slovakia. In two-thirds of EU25 regions the unemployment rate for young people was at least twice that for total unemployment. There were only two regions, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Chemnitz in Germany, where youth unemployment was less than or equal to total unemployment.

Highest and lowest unemployment rates in the EU25 in 2005 (in %)

( ) Data with reduced reliability due to sample size.

1. The unemployment rate is defined as the percentage of unemployed persons in the economically active population. According to the recommendations of the International Labour Organisation, a person is deemed to be unemployed if all three of the following conditions are met:

• he or she is without work during the survey reference week;
• he or she is available for work, being able to take up employment within two weeks;
• he or she has actively sought work over the past four weeks.

1. These data are based on the Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics adopted in July 2003. NUTS 2003 provides a uniform, consistent breakdown of territorial units for the production of regional statistics for the EU. Level 2 of the nomenclature has 254 regions: Belgium (11), Czech Republic (8), Germany (41), Greece (13), Spain (19), France (26), Ireland (2), Italy (21), Hungary (7), Netherlands (12), Austria (9), Poland (16), Portugal (7), Slovakia (4), Finland (5), Sweden (8) and United Kingdom (37). Denmark, Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta and Slovenia are all considered as single regions at NUTS 2 level. For a list of the European statistical regions see:

http://europa.eu.int/comm/eurostat/ramon/nuts/codelist_en.cfm.

1. Eurostat, Statistics in Focus, General Statistics, 1/2006, "Regional unemployment in the European Union, Bulgaria and Romania in 2005".

Unemployment rates in the regions of the European Union

Unemployment rates in the regions of the European Union