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The euro area (EA16) seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate was 10.1% in October 2010, compared with 10.0% in September. It was 9.9% in October 2009. The EU27 unemployment rate was 9.6% in October 2010, unchanged compared with September. It was 9.4% in October 2009.

The Conference Board Leading Economic Index® (LEI) for the Euro Area increased 0.4 percent and The Conference Board Coincident Economic Index® (CEI) remained unchanged in October.

After six years of steady growth, the EU27 trade in goods with Africa dropped in 2009, with exports falling by 10% and imports by one third, compared with 2008. As a result, the EU27 deficit in trade with Africa, which reached a peak of 40 billion euro in 2008, turned into a small surplus of 1 bn in 2009.

The annual growth rate of M3 stood at 1.0% in October 2010, compared with 1.1% in September 2010. The three-month average of the annual growth rates of M3 over the period August 2010 - October 2010 rose to 1.1%, from 0.8% in the period July 2010 - September 2010.

Costs of labour market adjustment can be more widely shared in publicly subsidised short-time working schemes, according to the 2010 Annual Report from the European Restructuring Monitor, presented at the European Employment Forum in Brussels. Just as the last two decades saw a reorientation from passive to active labour market policy, so should a flexicurity-aligned system of short-time working adopt a more active stance, Eurofound argues in its report.

The Employment in Europe report has become one of the main tools of the European Commission in supporting Member States in the analysis, formulation and implementation of their employment policies. As in previous years, the Employment in Europe report 2010 addresses topics that are high on the European Union's employment policy agenda. It gives a comprehensive overview of the employment situation in the EU and of the labour market measures taken by the Member States. This year it analyses the effects of market segmentation between "temporary" and "permanent" contract holders (insiders and outsiders), particularly in relation to young people.

In 2009, EU27 external trade in services slowed down compared with 2007 and 2008. EU27 exports of services to the rest of the word fell by 10%, from 524 billion euro in 2008 to 473 bn in 2009, and EU27 imports by 8%, from 446 bn to 409 bn. As a result, EU27 trade in services recorded a reduced surplus of 63 bn in 2009, compared with surpluses of 78 bn in 2008 and 87 bn in 2007.

In September 2010 compared with August 2010, the euro area (EA16) industrial new orders index fell by 3.8%. In August the index rose by 5.1%. In the EU27, new orders decreased by 2.5% in September 2010, after a gain of 3.5% in August3. Excluding ships, railway & aerospace equipment, for which changes tend to be more volatile, industrial new orders declined by 3.3% in the euro area and by 0.7% in the EU27.

The Conference Board Leading Economic Index® (LEI) for Germany increased 0.3 percent and The Conference Board Coincident Economic Index® (CEI) decreased 0.3 percent in September.