Regional unemployment in the European Union, Bulgaria and Romania in 2005

In 2005, unemployment in the EU-25 decreased from 9.2% in 2004 to 9.0% (‑83 600 unemployed). This was due to improvements in the labour markets of the new Member States (‑279 300 unemployed), closely linked to working migration to EU-15. After the year-to-year rise in the number of unemployed persons (+222 000) in the EU-25 in 2004, the trend thus changed to positive last year. Regional (NUTS‑2 level) unemployment rate in the EU‑25 varied between 2.6% (region of Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire in the West Midlands of the UK) and 23.1% (Východné Slovensko in eastern Slovakia). The lowest youth unemployment rate was observed in the south-western Dutch region of Zeeland (6.2%), the highest in the southern Italian region of Calabria (46.1%). In Romania, the unemployment rate was below 10 % in all level 2 regions, while in Bulgaria it was between 7.6% and 13.7%. These figures are derived from the European Union Labour Force Survey (EU-LFS).