December unemployment 9.3 per cent

 

UNEMPLOYMENT in Cyprus rose to 9.3 per cent in December, one of the highest increases registered in the EU.

According to the EU’s statistical service Eurostat, the jobless rate in the EU was 9.9 per cent in December – unchanged since November but 0.4 per cent up year-on-year.

The unemployment rate in the eurozone was 10.4 per cent in December – a 0.4 per cent increase year-on-year.

It remained unchanged compared with the previous month.

The highest increases were registered in Greece, 13.9 per cent to 19.2 per cent between October 2010 and October 2011, Cyprus — 6.1 per cent to 9.3 per cent, and Spain, 20.4 per cent to 22.9 per cent.

Compared with a year ago, the unemployment rate fell in fourteen Member States, remained unchanged in Ireland and rose in twelve Member States.

The largest falls were observed in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

Eurostat estimates that 23.8 million men and women in the EU27 — 16.5 million in the euro area — were unemployed in December 2011.

Compared with November 2011, jobless numbers increased by 24,000 in the EU27 and by 20, 000 in the euro area. Compared with December 2010, unemployment rose by 923 000 in the EU27 and by 751 000 in the euro area.

The lowest unemployment rates were recorded in Austria (4.1 per cent), the Netherlands (4.9 per cent) and Luxembourg (5.2 per cent).  

 

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.