Brussels, 01/04/2011 (Agence Europe) - According to the latest statistics, published on Friday 1st April 2011 by Eurostat, unemployment stood at 9.9% in the eurozone in February 2011, compared with 10.0% in February 2010. Unemployment stood at 9.5% in the EU27 in February 2011, slightly down on 9.6% in February 2010. Male unemployment fell from 9.9% in February 2010 to 9.7% in February 2011 in the eurozone and from 9.8% in February 2010 to 9.5% in February 2011 in the EU27. Female unemployment, however, rose to 10.2% in February 2011 in the eurozone, from 10.1% in February 2010, to 9.6% in February 2011 from 9.4% in February 2010 in the EU27. Some 23,051,000 men and women were unemployed in the EU27 in February 2011, and 15,747,000 in the eurozone. Compared with February 2010, there were 31,000 fewer unemployed in the EU27 in February 2011 and 77,000 fewer in the eurozone.
The lowest unemployment in Q410 was in the Netherlands (4.3%), Luxembourg (4.5%) and Austria (4.8%) and the highest in Spain (20.5%), Lithuania (17.4%) and Latvia (17.8%). From Q409 to Q410, the greatest falls in unemployment were recorded in Latvia (from 20.1% to 17.3%), Estonia (from 16.1% to 14.3%) and Sweden (from 8.8% to 7.6%). The greatest rises in unemployment were seen in Greece (from 10.2% to 14.1%), Bulgaria (from 9.4% to 11.6%) and Ireland (from 13.0% to 14.9%). Eurostat explains that in February 2011, unemployment stood at 8.9% in the United States and 4.6% in Japan. (G. B./transl.fl)