Euro area April jobless rate hits 12-yr high

Eurostat,the statistical agency of the European Union,said the euro area’s jobless rate rose to 10.1 per cent in April compared to 10 per cent in the previous month. The eurozone has 16 countries that share the common currency euro. This unemployment rate is the highest since June 1998.

“Compared with March 2010,the number of persons unemployed rose by 25 000 in both the EU and the euro area,” Eurostat said in a statement. As many as 15.86 million people in the eurozone were jobless in April.

Eurostat noted that about 23.311 million men and women in the 27-nation EU were unemployed in April. During the same period,the jobless rate in the entire EU stood at 9.7 per cent. Signalling a weak economic recovery,the eurozone GDP expanded just 0.2 per cent in the first three months of 2010.

Among the euro area members,the highest unemployment rate was seen in Spain (19.7 per cent) while the lowest was in the Netherlands (4.1 per cent).

In the US,the April unemployment rate stood at 9.9 per cent.