Euro zone inflation rose 1.5 per cent year-on-year in April, up from 1.4 per cent in March, according to new data from the European Union statistics office, Eurostat.
The latest figures also indicate that the euro zone unemployment rate in March was unchanged at 10 per cent compared to February but was up from 9.1 per cent on an annual basis.
The unemployment rate in the European Union as a whole was also unchanged from February to March 2010 at 9.6 per cent but increased from 8.5 per cent over the 12-months to the end of March 2010.
Eurostat estimates that 23.130 million men and women in the EU27, of whom 15.8 million were in the euro zone, were unemployed in March.
Compared with February 2010, the number of people unemployed increased by 123,000 in the EU and by 101,000 in the euro zone.
Unemployment was 2.546 million higher in the EU and 1.389 million in the euro zone against March 2009.
Other Eurostat data published today reveals that the seasonally adjusted household saving rate in both the euro zone and the EU as a whole was almost unchanged in the final quarter of 2009 compared to the preceding three-month period, at 15.1 per cent and 13.3 per cent respectively.
However, in the euro zone, household disposable income fell by 0.2 per cent from the third to the fourth quarter of last year.
In the EU, the gross investment rate of households was 8.1 per cent in the fourth quarter, compared with 8.3 per cent in the third quarter of 2009. In the euro zone, the household investment rate was 8.9 per cent as against 9.1 per cent.
Meanwhile, the seasonally adjusted business investment rate in both the euro zone and the EU as a whole was down in the fourth quarter of 2009.
In the euro zone, the business investment rate was down to 20.4 per cent, compared with 20.7 per cent in the third quarter. In the EU27, the rate stood at 20.3 per cent as against 20.6 per cent.
In the EU, the gross profit share of non-financial corporations was 37.1 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2009, compared with 36.9 per cent in the preceding quarter.
Profit share in the euro zone was 37.9 per cent in the fourth quarter versus 37.5 per cent in the third quarter of 2009.
