EURO-ZONE UNEMPLOYMENT FALLS BELOW 10% IN OCTOBER.

In October, the eleven-nation Euro zone's seasonally-adjusted unemployment just about managed to undercut the 10% mark to reach 9.9%, for the first time since December 1992, reported Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Communities, on December 6. This is an improvement on the 10% recorded in September 1999 and the 10.6% of October 1998. Unemployment across the EU stayed at 9.1% in October, the same rate as in September. In October1998, it was at 9.7%. The lowest rates were registered in Luxembourg (2.7%) and the Netherlands (3% in September), followed by Austria (4.2%), Denmark (4.3% in September) and Portugal (4.6%). Spain still has the EU's highest jobless rate with 15.3%. In the past twelve months there have been notable relative falls in the Netherlands (from 3.7%...