By Martin Banks - 1st September 2010
Europe is no way out of its recession, worse its policies of increasing regulations on business can only make things harder
Godfrey Bloom
New data says that unemployment in Europe has risen in the past year.
The figures, released by EU statistical agency Eurostat, estimates that 23 million men and women in the EU27 were unemployed in July 2010.
Compared with July 2009, the agency says unemployment rose by 1.1 million in the EU27 and by 0.6 million in the EU25 area.
Among member states, the lowest unemployment rates were recorded in Austria (3.8 per cent) and the Netherlands (4.4 per cent in June 2010), and the highest rates in Spain (20.3 per cent), Latvia (20.1 per cent in the first quarter of 2010) and Estonia (18.6 per cent in the second quarter of 2010).
Compared with a year ago, three member states recorded a fall in the unemployment rate, two remained stable and 22 showed an increase.
The falls were observed in Austria (5.1 per cent to 3.8 per cent), Malta (7.3 per cent to 6.5per cent) and Germany (7.6 per cent to 6.9percent).
The highest increases were registered in Latvia (13.5 per cent to 20.1 per cent between the first quarters of 2009 and 2010) and Lithuania (11.2 per cent to 17.3 per cent between the first quarters of 2009 and 2010).
Responding to the figures, UK Independence Party MEP Godfrey Bloom said, "Europe is no way out of its recession, worse its policies of increasing regulations on business can only make things harder".
