EU-17: unemployment, up to 11% in April

The rate of unemployment in the eurozone rose to 11% in April. The figure in March stood at 10.9%, while in the corresponding month of 2011 unemployment was at 9.9%. The figures have been released by Eurostat, which has registered the loss of 110,000 jobs in one month and of 1.797 million in a year. In the wider European Union, there are 24.667 million people out of work, with a rate of unemployment of 10.3%. In the 17 countries using the single currency, there were 17.405 million people unemployed in April this year, compared to 17.295 million in March and 15.608 million in April 2011. Spain is the country home to the largest number of unemployed, with a rate of 24.3% (+0.2% compared to the previous month), a figure that rises to 51.5% among young people under the age of 25. France, which is progressing in a similar vein to Italy, has a rate of 10.2% (+0.1% in one month), while Germany has bucked the trend, with the figure falling to 5.4% from 5.5% in March and 6.1% in April last year.(ANSAmed).