Cyprus unemployment at 5.1%

The unemployment rate of Cyprus in March was 5.1% of the economically active population, compared to 8.9% jobless rate in the euro-zone, according to Eurostat.

Eurozone unemployment in February stood at 8.8%, the same as in March 2004. The lowest rates were registered in Ireland (4.3%), Luxembourg (4.5%), Austria (4.6%), the United Kingdom (4.7% in January) and Denmark (4.9% in February). Unemployment rates were highest in Poland (18.1%), Slovakia (15.9%), Greece (10.2% in December 2004) and Spain (10.2%).

Amongst the Member States, thirteen recorded a decrease in their unemployment rate over a year, two remained stable and ten reported an increase.

The largest relative decreases were observed in Lithuania (11.4% to 8.6%), Estonia (9.8% to 7.9%), Slovakia (18.7% to 15.9%) and Malta (7.8% in February 2004 to 6.8% in February 2005), while the Netherlands (4.4% in February 2004 to 5.0% in February 2005), Luxembourg (4.1% to 4.5%) and Hungary (5.8% to 6.3%) registered the highest relative increases.

In March 2005 compared to March 2004, the unemployment rate for males grew from 7.5% to 7.6% in the euro-zone and decreased from 8.1% to 8.0% in the EU25.

The female unemployment rate fell from 10.6% to 10.5% in the euro-zone and from 10.2% to 10.0% in the EU25.

In March 2005, the unemployment rate for under-25s was 19.2% in the euro-zone and 19.1% in the EU25. In March 2004 it was 18.2% and 18.9% respectively. The lowest rates for under-25s were observed in Denmark (7.1% in February), Ireland (8.0%) and the Netherlands (9.1% in February) and the highest in Poland (36.4%), Slovakia (27.6%), Greece (26.2% in December 2004) and Italy (24.0% in December 2004).

Eurostat estimates that, in March 2005, 12.8 million men and women were unemployed in the euro-zone and 19.1 million in the EU25. These are seasonally-adjusted figures in line with ILO criteria.

In March 2005, the US unemployment rate was 5.2% and the Japanese rate was 4.5%.