UNEMPLOYMENT RATES REMAIN HIGH IN EUROPE.

• Position: Brief Article

Unemployment rates have remained virtually unchanged in the first quarter of 2005 compared to the same time period in 2004 in most OECD countries. The 27-member Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development posted new standardised unemployment figures on June 10 that underscore the high levels of unemployment in many EU member states, particularly in a global context. The overall standardised unemployment rate for the OECD area remained at 6.7% in April 2005, 0.2 percentage point lower than a year earlier.

In the 12-nation euro-zone (Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain), the standardised unemployment rate remained at 8.9% in April 2005, the same rate as a year earlier. At the same time, the United States' standardised unemployment rate for May 2005 fell to 5.1%, 0.1 percentage point lower than a year earlier. For Japan, the rate fell to 4.4% in April 2005, 0.1 percentage point lower...