EU's jobless rate jumps to 10.1 percent, consumer prices rises to 1.9 percent

[News_Editor]

EU's jobless rate jumps to 10.1 percent, consumer prices rises to 1.9 percent

2010-10-29 19:13:51 GMT+7 (ICT)

BRUSSELS (BNO NEWS) -- The unemployment rate in the European Union (EU) for September was 10.1 percent, while consumer prices in the region increased 1.9 percent in October, an EU report released on Friday said.

According to EU's Eurostat, the region's unemployment rate represented an increase of .1 percent compared to August, and .3 percent compared to the same month in 2009. This represents the highest in 12 years. The report estimates that 23.109 million men and women in the region were unemployed in September, an increase of 71,000 compared to August and a 656,000 compared to September 2009.

Among the Member States, the lowest unemployment rates were recorded in the Netherlands (4.4%) and Austria (4.5%) and the highest in Spain (20.8%), Latvia (19.4% in the second quarter of 2010), Estonia (18.6% in the second quarter of 2010) and Lithuania (18.2% in the second quarter of 2010).

Europe's numbers are comparable to those in the U.S., which had an unemployment rate of 9.6 percent in September. In Japan, however, it was 5.1 percent in August.

Meanwhile, the Euro zone's annual inflation has unexpectedly accelerated to the fastest in nearly two years as it is expected to be 1.9 percent in October, according to a flash estimate issued by Eurostat. The rate would represent .1 percent rise of August's 1.8 percent.

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