Short-term trends. Unemployment. Unemployment in the Community. 1991.2

Abstract

The seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate In the European CommunHy Is esti-mated by Eurostat, after correction of the differences between national methods of recor-ding unemployment, at 8.4% for the month of December 1990. This represents a slight increase in comparison with previous months (8.3%) and a slight decrease in comparison with December 1989 (8.5%). I 0 • Eurostat estimates that the unemployment rate for the Community was 8.3% for the 1 ' • • • • year 1990, compared to 8.9% for the previous year. In relation to the years 1984-86 where a high of 10.8% was reached, the unemployment rate has decreased by 23%. This de-crease was more noticeable among males (more than 30%) than females (15%) and among young persons (more than 30%) than persons aged 25 or over (14%). Between 1985 and 1990, there was a particularly significant drop in Portugal, the United Kingdom and Luxembourg (more than 40%). In these three Member States, the unem-ployment rate in 1990 is considerably lower than the average of the Community. Over the same period, the decrease in both the Federal Republic of Germany and in Spain was around 25%. Spain continues to have the highest rate of u.nem~·. in t. he Community (16.1% in 1990) while among the larger couijie ~~a'e;Re, " of Ger-many has the lowest rate (5.1% in 1990). l ;,_, t -::.\ i.~ . . In France the rate has decreased slightly over the last 5 ( , .. ~ •. :~;.~;~ lfa?; it hers re-' ' • mained virtually unchanged: in the context of a general ecrease in unemployment rates both these Member States, which in 1985 experienced rates below the Community aver-age, have in 1990 rates higher than the majority of Member States, just behind Ireland (where the rate of unemployment has only fallen 14% in 5 years) and Spain. Denmark is the only Member State where there has been a considerable Increase ( + 10%): the trend in unemployment in this country is quite different from that of Europe, and is now experiencing the worst rate since 1986 .