At the time of the committee visit, it was reported that Austria has an unemployment rate of about 4.4%, which remained substantially lower than the average unemployment rate for the 27 European Union (EU) members, which was at about 9.6%. The economy grew at 3.1% in 2011 up from 2.3% in 2010, which remains higher than the estimated 0.1% average growth of the Euro area in 2011. Austria, with its well-developed market economy and high standard of living, is closely tied to other European Union (EU) economies, especially Germany's economy.