Eurozone jobless rate stays at worrying 9.9 pct
(BRUSSELS) - Unemployment in the 16-nation eurozone remained at 9.9 percent in January, providing more evidence that Europe's recovery from the worst recession in decades is a largely jobless one.
The crumb of comfort, for European statisticians if not for the unemployed, was that December's first estimate of a double-digit unemployment rate was revised back to 9.9 percent, as the EU's official Eurostat data agenda released the new figures.
What remains unchanged is that unemployment figures are at their highest since the euro currency was launched a decade ago and that Europe's fragile post-recession economic growth is not yet producing jobs.
In fact the number of unemployed increased to almost 15.7 million in the eurozone and to almost 23 million in the 27-nation European Union as a whole.
That left the total EU unemployment rate at 9.5 percent in January, also unchanged from the previous month.
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