Austria’s growth and employment performance has been good over the past decade. Trend GDP growth, at 2.2%, has exceeded the EU average and the employment rate is one of the highest in Europe, at about 70%. Moreover, regional income and employment differences remain particularly low, as well as the risk of poverty. Unemployment remains low at about 5½ per cent, and the country ranks high in the EU in terms of GDP per capita. Recent economic performance has also exceeded the euro area average, with real GDP growth at 3.4% in 2006, and inflation remaining at 1.7%. Austria continues to operate as an efficient economy, which successfully draws on its favourable location in the centre of an enlarged Europe.