THURSDAY, MAY 8, 2003
Euro-zone unemployment at highest level since 2000
AP
BRUSSELS: Euro-zone unemployment rose slightly to 8.7 per cent in March, the highest level since mid-2000, the European Union announced Tuesday.
The jobless rate in the 12-nation currency bloc rose from 8.6 per cent in February reflecting continued sluggishness in the European economy. In March 2002, unemployment stood at 7.5 per cent.
According to the EU's statistics agency Eurostat, 12.2 million people are out of work in euro-zone.
Across the 15 nation EU - which also includes Sweden, Denmark and Britain - the unemployment rate was unchanged at 7.9 per cent in March, Eurostat said.
March unemployment was 5.8 per cent in the United States and 5.4 per cent in Japan.
Economists believe euro-zone unemployment will rise to 9 per cent this year before the economy begins to recover.
The EU's highest unemployment rates were in Spain with 11.5 per cent, Greece with 9.6 per cent and Finland and France with 9.1 per cent.
Lowest levels were in Luxembourg with 3.4 per cent, the Netherlands with 3.6 per cent and Austria with 4.3 per cent.
In the 10 countries due to join the EU in May next year, the average unemployment rate stood at 14.7 per cent, a 0.1 percentage point fall from February.
Poland had the highest with 20.2 per cent, followed by Slovakia with 17.2 per cent and Latvia with 12.4 per cent.
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