Eurozone unemployment falls below 10%

Number of people out of work at lowest level since December 2009.

Unemployment in the eurozone has fallen below 10% for the first time in more than a year.

The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in February was 9.9%, down from 10% the month before, according to figures published today by Eurostat, the European Commission’s statistics office.

The figures show that the proportion of people out of work in the 17 eurozone member states is at its lowest since December 2009.

However, there remains a wide variation between the unemployment rates of different countries.

The eurozone’s most troubled economies face the biggest problems: Spain has a seasonally adjusted rate of 20.5%, Ireland 14.9% and Portugal 11.1% (figures for Greece are unavailable).

Unemployment remains relatively low in the Netherlands (4.3%), Austria (4.8%) and Germany (6.3%).

The figures show that unemployment among people under the age of 25 is also falling, from 20.5% in February 2010 to 19.4% in February 2011.

However, there are huge differences between member states. In Spain, youth unemployment now stands at 43.5% (up from 40.1% in February 2010) and in Ireland it is at 31.9%. The Netherlands has the lowest proportion of young people out of work, at 7.4%.

In the EU as a whole, the jobless rate was 9.5% in February, a slight fall from January’s 9.6%.

Click Here: cheap all stars rugby jersey