Regional labour market: higher unemployment rates and increasing disparities in 2010

The latest estimates for 2010 show the continuing impact of the economic crisis in the EU labour market. The employment rate for the 20-64 age group in the EU-27 stood at 68.6% in 2010, 0.5 percentage points (p.p.) lower than the previous year. The unemployment rate (15-74 age group) rose by 0.7 p.p., reaching 9.6%, the highest value in the past decade.

This impact is evident in most of the Member States, and is affecting all population groups. However, the scale varies from country to country, and even more from region to region. While almost 70% of the NUTS 2 regions in the EU-27 recorded higher unemployment rates, 10% of the regions achieved significant reductions. As a result of differences in regional performance, cohesion in the labour market continued to deteriorate in 2010.