The jobless rate in the 12-nation Euro-zone climbed to 8.6 percent in August from a revised 8.5 percent in July, the European Union (EU)'s statistic office said Tuesday.

The rate, seasonally adjusted, was double the Japanese rate at 4.3 percent and much higher than the US 4.9 percent, the office said.

The Euro-zone unemployment rate was 8.9 percent in August 2004.

Among the 12 countries using the European single currency, Ireland registered the lowest unemployment rate at 4.3 percent, followed by the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Denmark, which all have their jobless rates below 4.8 percent.

If not taking into account of Greece, whose latest unemployment statistics were available only in March, at 9.9 percent, France and Germany scored the highest jobless rate among the 12 countries at 9.6 percent, followed by Spain at 9.4 percent.

Meanwhile, all the 25 EU member states as a whole registered an unemployment rate of 8.7 percent in August, also slightly up from July's 8.6 percent, but down from 9.0 percent a year ago.

Among the 25 countries, Poland topped the list with 17.5 percent, trailed by Slovakia at 15.2 percent.

Lithuania recorded the largest relative decrease in unemployment rate over a year, from 10.7 percent to 7.5 percent, while Luxembourg saw the biggest relative increase from 4.9 percent to 5. 5 percent.

Source: Xinhua