EUROSTAT DATA : RECORD UNEMPLOYMENT RATES IN FEBRUARY.

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The eurozone seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate was 12% in Feb. 2013, stable compared with Jan, says Eurostat, the EU's statistical office. The EU27 unemployment rate was 10.9%, up from 10.8% in the previous month. In both zones, rates have risen markedly compared with Feb. 2012, when they were 10.9% and 10.2% respectively.

Eurostat estimates dated 2 April showed that 26.338 million men and women were unemployed in Feb. 2013 in the EU27, of whom 19.071 million were in the eurozone. Compared with Jan. 2013, the number of persons unemployed increased by 76,000 in the EU27 and by 33,000 in the eurozone. Compared with Feb. 2012, unemployment rose by 1,805 million in the EU27 and by 1,775 million in the eurozone.

Among the member states, the lowest unemployment rates were recorded in Austria (4.8%), Germany (5.4%), Luxembourg (5.5%) and the Netherlands (6.2%), and the highest in Greece (26.4% in December 2012), Spain (26.3%) and Portugal (17.5%).

Over a period of a year, the unemployment rate increased in nineteen...