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| Eurozone unemployment rate at record high | Eurozone unemployment rate at record high |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| The rate of unemployment in the eurozone hit a record high of 12% in February, official figures have shown. | |
| The number of people unemployed in the 17 member states rose by 33,000 during the month, to hit 19.07 million, the statistics agency Eurostat said. | The number of people unemployed in the 17 member states rose by 33,000 during the month, to hit 19.07 million, the statistics agency Eurostat said. |
| The highest rate was 26.4% in Greece, although the most recent figure for the country was from December. | The highest rate was 26.4% in Greece, although the most recent figure for the country was from December. |
| Separately, figures confirmed a deterioration in the eurozone's manufacturing sector in March. | Separately, figures confirmed a deterioration in the eurozone's manufacturing sector in March. |
| 'Disappointing picture' | |
| The jobless figures from Eurostat also showed that Spain's unemployment rate hit 26.3% in February, while the rate in Portugal remained stable at 17.5%. | |
| The lowest rates were recorded in Austria (4.8%) and Germany (5.4%), both unchanged from January. The overall rate for the eurozone in January was revised up from 11.9% to 12%. | |
| Across the 27 member states of the European Union, the unemployment rate rose to 10.9%, up from 10.8% the previous month. | |
| There was further gloomy news from the eurozone's manufacturing sector, as a survey indicated that manufacturing activity fell to a three-month low last month. | |
| The final Markit eurozone manufacturing purchasing managers' index (PMI) for March fell to 46.8, slightly higher than an initial estimate but below the 47.9 recorded in February. Any score below 50 indicates a contraction in the sector. | |
| Germany and the Republic of Ireland both fell back below 50, while the rate of decline accelerated in all other eurozone countries apart from France. | |
| The survey indicated that output and new orders fell across the eurozone, while job losses increased. | |
| "The surveys paint a very disappointing picture across the region," said Markit's chief economist Chris Williamson. | |
| "The manufacturing sector looks likely to have acted as a drag on the economy in the first quarter, with an acceleration in the rate of decline in March raising the risk that the downturn may also intensify in the second quarter." |