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European jobless rates surged in February

jen/sje/rm/afp/apApril 2, 2009

The euro-zone unemployment rate has unexpectedly jumped to 8.5 percent -- the latest sign that the 16 euro-zone economies are deteriorating faster than expected amid the global financial downturn.

https://p.dw.com/p/HObb
shadow of a worker in a hard hat, overlayed with a graph showing a downward trend
Economists are revising their full-year forecasts

The EU statistics office said unemployment in the euro zone rose to 8.5 percent in February. Some 319,000 more people were seeking work in the euro zone than in January, when unemployment was at 8.3 percent.

Analysts said they expect the unemployment rate to reach about 10 percent later in the year, as the recession deepens.

More pressure on ECB

The latest figures are likely to increase the pressure on the European Central Bank, which was set to meet Thursday, April 2, to discuss lowering euro-zone interest rates.

On Wednesday, the European Union's statistics office, Eurostat, said the jobless rate across the entire 27-nation bloc is now 7.9 percent, up from 7.7 percent in January.

Unemployment is highest in Spain at 15.5 percent, Latvia at 14.4 percent and Lithuania at 13.7 percent. All three have been hit hard by the bursting of a housing bubble and a sharp economic downturn.

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