Forexpros – The euro zone’s unemployment rate rose in line with expectations to a record high for the second consecutive month in February, official data showed on Monday.
In a report, Eurostat said that the euro zone’s unemployment rate rose to a seasonally adjusted 10.8% in February, up from 10.7% in January.
The result was broadly in line with market expectations.
The jobless rate stood at 10.0% in February 2011.
According to the data, the number of unemployed people in the euro zone was 24.55 million in February, of whom 17.13 million were in the euro area.
Compared with January, the number of persons unemployed increased by 167,000 in the EU27 and by 162,000 in the euro area.
Among euro zone member states, the lowest unemployment rates were recorded in Austria, Luxembourg and the Netherlands, while Spain at 23.6% and Greece at 21.0% recorded the highest rates.
Following the release of the data, the euro trimmed gains against the U.S. dollar, with EUR/USD easing up 0.03% to trade at 1.3345.
Meanwhile, European stock markets were lower. The EURO STOXX 50 shed 0.7%, France’s CAC 40 declined 0.55%, London’s FTSE 100 eased down 0.15%, while Germany’s DAX dipped 0.1%.
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