30/04/2010 (Agence Europe) - In March 2010, the euro area unemployment rate was 10.0%, compared with 9.1% in March 2009, and in the EU27 it stood at 9.6%, compared with 8.5% in March 2009. The main points to note are: (1) the lowest unemployment rates were recorded in the Netherlands (4.1%) and Austria (4.9%), and the highest rates in Latvia (22.3%) and Spain (19.1%); (2) over the year, only Germany recorded a fall in its unemployment rate; (3) between March 2009 and March 2010, the unemployment rate for men rose from 8.9% to 10.0% in the euro area and from 8.6% to 9.8% in the EU27; the female unemployment rate increased from 9.3% to 10.1% in the euro area and from 8.5% to 9.4% in the EU27. In the USA, the unemployment rate was 9.7% in March 2010, and in Japan it was 4.8%. (G.B./transl.rt)