Regional unemployment: Bringing it down and strengthening cohesion

The latest estimates for 2007 show that the unemployment rate in the EU-27 was 7.2%, 1 percentage point less than in 2006. More than 80% of the NUTS 2 regions have reduced their unemployment rates. Regions with the highest unemployment rates in 2006 achieved the biggest reductions in unemployment in 2007, continuing the positive trend in regional labour market cohesion over the last five years. Nevertheless, unemployment figures still vary significantly across the regions in the EU-27.