Eurozone inflation, unemployment up

Eurozone inflation and unemployment rate rose during October, according to new figures published today.

A flash estimate issued this morning indicates that eurozone inflation rose from 1.8 per cent in September to 1.9 per cent this month.

Meanwhile, the eurozone unemployment rate rose to 10.1 per cent in September from 10 per cent in August and 9.8 per cent in September 2009.

The EU27 unemployment rate was 9.6 per cent in September, unchanged from August but up from 9.3 per cent for the same month last year.

Eurostat estimates that 23.1 million people in the EU were unemployed last month, of which 15.9 million were in the eurozone. Compared with the same month last year, unemployment rose by 0.65 million in the EU27 and by 0.42 million in the eurozone.

The lowest unemployment rates last month were recorded in the Netherlands and Austria and the highest in Spain, Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania.

Compared with a year ago, the unemployment rate fell in seven Member States, remained stable in one and increased in nineteen.

The largest declines were observed in Malta, Germany and Austria and the highest in Estonia, Lithuania and Greece.