The lowest rate of people out of work was found in Austria during October 2011, new data show.

According to figures from Eurostat, the country had an unemployment rate of 4.1 per cent, lower than nearest rivals Luxembourg (4.7 per cent) and the Netherlands (4.8 per cent).

Sharp declines in joblessness were found year-on-year in Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia during October 2011.

The statistical agency of the European Union (EU) revealed the seasonally-adjusted jobless rate for October 2011 was 9.8 per cent, up from 9.7 per cent the month before and by 0.2 points year-on-year.

Within the eurozone nations, unemployment was 10.3 per cent in October, rising from 10.2 per cent in September and 10.1 per cent the previous year.

A total of 23.554 million were out of work in the period in question across the 27 EU member states and the nations with the highest rates of people without jobs were found to be Spain (22.8 per cent) and Greece (18.3 per cent in August).

Recent Eurostat figures revealed that Zeeland in the Netherlands and Bolzano/Bozen in Italy had the lowest regional unemployment rate in 2010, both at 2.7 per cent, along with Tirol, Austria (2.8 per cent).

Posted by Alex Donnell