Unemployment Malaise Lingers in Europe
In February, the countries that use the Euro saw the unemployment rate remained remain the same as January, at 11.9%. The Euro-zone economy appears to continue to be growing since it rose out of recession in the second quarter of 2013. In the broader European Union, a 28-country political bloc, saw unemployment fall by 0.1% from 10.7% in January to 10.6% in February. Some countries have actually grown worse, such as Italy and even France, both experiencing a 0.1% increase in unemployment over the same level. Austria and Germany have the lowest unemployment rates in the E.U., with 4.8% and 5.1% respectively, but most countries still far above the U.S. rate of 6.7%.
See "Unemployment Malaise Lingers in Europe", David Jolly, The New York Times, March 31, 2014