Unemployment in the eurozone rose again in February as companies continued to react to weaker demand by laying off staff. The jobless rate in the 12 nations that share the single currency rose to 8.7pc last month from 8.6pc in January, EU statistics office Eurostat said today. The unemployment rate was 8.1pc in February 2002. This morning, the Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) revealed that manufacturing companies in the eurozone cut more jobs than they created in March for the 22nd month running. "In the majority of cases, workforce cuts reflected the need to reduce costs in the face of falling order books and geo-political uncertainty," said NTC, which compiled the report.
The overall PMI slid to 48.4, its lowest level this year, after climbing briefly above the 50 line that divides growth from contraction in February. In its unemployment report, Eurostat said that in the EU-15, the unemployment rate was 7.9pc in February, unchanged from the previous month. Ireland had one of the lowest rates, at 4.5pc, coming in behind Luxembourg, 2.8pc, the Netherlands, 3.4pc in January, and Austria, 4.2pc.// www.fxcentre.com