A smaller government sector and a stronger rule of law can help to reduce unemployment, particularly among women and young people, suggests a study of 87 countries.

In the Bernard Corry Memorial Lecture given today at Queen Mary, University of London, Professor David Blanchflower, an external member of the Bank's Monetary Policy Committee, discusses five questions about the economy:

China has more than doubled university enrollment in the past 10 years, and educated job seekers are entering the labor force at a record rate. The government's goal was more skilled workers for the rapidly growing economy. But as Sam Beattie reports from Beijing, some economists are predicting that around one third of this year's five million university graduates may face unemployment.

For the first time since October 2002, when fewer that 4 million people could not find job, unemployment in Germany decreased to 9.5 percent. The drop comes as more and more German companies seek to fill vacancies amid burgeoning demand in Europe's biggest economy.

The unemployment rate in EU newcomer Bulgaria stood at 8.92 percent in March. The jobless rate in March was down by 0.56 percent from the previous month, and down by 1.92 percent from March 2006. The total number of unemployed in March stood at 330,270, or 20,905 less than in February.