The ongoing recession worsened the unemployment rate in the European Union, which was 8%, the highest in two years. More and more firms make a certain amount of their employees redundant and it is expected that they continue to give their workers a sack until the very end of 2010.
It is interesting to see that while unemployment is perhaps the only issue that causes a significant threat to the nations of the EU, the other major economic issue, inflation, that usually accompanies unemployment, fell to 1.1%, the lowest in 10 years.
Spain is affected by the recession the most in terms of unemployment, whose figure was more than 14%, while the Netherlands and Austria are the least (the figures were 2.7% and 3.9%, respectively).
The central bank of the European Union, the so-called European Central Bank, is expected to cut the interest rates of the eurozone to give a boost to the economies and try to bring the inflation rate closer to the designated 2%. The decision on the cut will be made next week.
Unemployment rate rose to 7.4% for the 27-nation bloc last December.
