Unemployment in the European Union was unchanged at 8 percent in July despite economic growth of 0.9 percent in the second quarter, AP quoted a statement released Friday by the EU's statistics office. The jobless rate represented a fall from 8.7 percent in July 2005. Eurostat said the 0.9 percent second-quarter growth rate in the 25-nation bloc compared to 0.7 in the U.S. and 0.2 percent in Japan. Still, Europe's unemployment rate continues to lag behind that of its trading partners with the U.S. registering 4.8 percent out of work in July and Japan 4.1 percent. Poland, with 15 percent, had the EU's highest jobless rate, followed by Slovakia with 14 percent. Other new EU members saw significant falls in unemployment over the year. Estonia's rate fell to 4.2 percent from 7.6 percent since July 2005, and Lithuania's from 8 percent to 5.5 percent. Over the year, the EU economy grew by 2.8 percent from the second quarter of 2005. In the 12-nation euro currency zone, second quarter growth was also 0.9 percent, representing a 2.6 percent rise. First quarter growth this year was 0.8 percent in the EU and the euro-zone.
