Eurostat, the European statistics agency, reported on Thursday (10-1-2009) that Euro-zone unemployment is now estimated at an overall 9.6 percent, putting it on par with the U.S. figure of 9.7 percent (at least until tomorrow when the new U.S. jobless numbers are released, not that they mean much). An additional 165,000 Europeans became officially unemployed in August, and the rate is the highest it has been since 1999.

The interesting thing about European unemployment is how unevenly distributed it is. In some European nations one would hardly know that a global recession was underway. The Netherlands has an enviable unemployment rate of just 3.5 percent, and Austria's is just 4.7 percent. In other countries, such as Spain and Latvia, the rates are extraordinarily high (18.9 and 18.3 percent, respectively).

This presents an opportunity to solve the problem. Good research begins by asking the right questions, and the question here is obvious: What are the Netherlands and Austria doing that Spain and Latvia are not? An answer to that query would go a long way toward developing policies that nurture employment.

One can only hope that the OECD asked that question last week at its summit.