Brussels: Eurozone unemployment rose slightly in August from the July level, loaded by the lagging effects of Europe's deepest post-war recession, official data showed on Thursday.
In the 16 nations using the single currency, 15.16 million people were out of work in August, putting the unemployment rate at 9.6 percent, a 0.1 percent rise over the level in July, the European Union's Eurostat agency said.
Even when growth returns to economies emerging from recession, as has recently been the case in the major eurozone economies of Germany and France, there is a time-lag before employment levels pick up.
The eurozone unemployment rate was 7.6 percent in August 2008.
For the full 27-country EU, the rate stood at 9.1 percent in August, also up 0.1 percent over the month of July.
Compared with the figure 12 months ago, the unemployment rate in all EU member states rose, with the highest increases in Latvia, up 7.4 percent to 18.3 percent, and Estonia, where the rate rose 4.1 percent to 13.3 percent.
Bureau Report
First Published: Thursday, October 01, 2009, 19:18