Unemployment in the euro zone edged up to 8.9% of the labour force in February, the EU statistics agency Eurostat said today. The figure for January was 8.8%.
It marked the first increase in the euro zone's jobless rate since October 2004. In the full 25-member EU unemployment remained unchanged at 8.9%.
The highest jobless rates were recorded in Poland on 18.1%, Slovakia with 16.2% and Spain on 10.3%. The lowest were in Ireland on 4.3%, Luxembourg on 4.4% and Austria with 4.6%.
US unemployment stood at 5.4% in February, while in Japan 4.6% of the workforce was without a job.
