Unemployment in the 16 countries using the euro increased in April to its highest level in nearly 10 years, official data has shown.
The unemployment rate in the eurozone rose to 9.2% in April from 8.9% in March, the highest rate since September 1999, the Eurostat data agency said. Unemployment in the wider 27-member European Union rose to 8.6% in April from 8.4% the previous month.
Eurostat estimates that 20.8 million people in the EU were unemployed in April, an increase of 556,000 from March’s figure. The number of people out of work in the eurozone increased by 396,000 to 14.58 million.
Unemployment increased in 25 out of the 27 EU member states. Romania and Greece were the only countries which saw their unemployment rates fall. But in Germany, Europe’s biggest economy, unemployment rose to 7.7% from 7.6% in March.
And in France, the second biggest economy, unemployment increased to 8.9% from 8.8% a month earlier.
