EUROZONE UNEMPLOYMENT HAS broken another record today with figures for March showing that the rate is now 12.1 per cent, up 0.1 percentage point from February.
Figures from the EU’s statistics agency, Eurostat, show that the unemployment rate for the 27-member European Union was 10.9 per cent in March, stable compared to February.
This means that 26.5 million are unemployed in the EU including 19.2 million within the eurozone.
But both the eurozone – which accounts for the 17 members whose currency is the euro, including Ireland – and the EU show unemployment rates which have risen markedly since March 2012 when they were 11 per cent and 10.3 per cent respectively.
One of the highest unemployment rates is in Spain where over a quarter of the workforce are unemployed – 26.7 per cent – while the lowest is in Austria where just 4.7 per cent are unemployed.
Compared to 12 months ago the unemployment rate increased in 19 EU member states and fell in eight.
The highest increase was recorded in Greece – 21.5 per cent to 27.2 per cent – while Ireland is among the nations to show the largest decrease from 15 per cent to 14.1 per cent.
Eurostat figures put Ireland’s unemployment rate at 14.1 per cent. Live Register numbers published earlier this month showed that Ireland’s unemployment rate was 14 per cent with 2,200 fewer people signing on in March.
The Central Statistics Office is due to publish Live Register figures for April tomorrow morning.
This Eurostat graph maps out the rates of unemployment in all 27 countries (Click here if you are having trouble seeing this image):
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