The euro zone unemployment rate held flat at 8.9 per cent in September compared with August as producer prices inched up by 0.2 per cent as expected amid high energy costs, the EU statistics office said today.
The lowest euro zone jobless rate in September was seen in Luxembourg, with 4.3 per cent, and Ireland with 4.4 per cent.
In an unexpected move, Eurostat revised the unemployment figure for August and for the previous four months to 8.9 per cent from 9.0 per cent. The rate was also 8.9 per cent in September 2003.
Eurostat said that on an annual basis, September prices at factory gates throughout the 12-nation bloc were up by 3.4 per cent , slightly higher than the expected 3.3 per cent .
An annual, 7-per cent increase of energy prices was offset by relatively small rise in prices for consumer goods.
Durable consumer goods rose 0.8 per cent year-on-year, while prices of non-durable goods increased by 1.1 per cent , which may might point to the flagging domestic demand amid the stubbornly high unemployment rates.
Eurostat estimated that 12.7 million people were jobless in the 12-nation single currency zone in September, while 19.2 per cent were unemployed in the 25-nation European Union.
For the whole EU, the jobless rate remained unchanged at 9 per cent in September, compared with August.
The euro zone jobless rate compares with 5.4 per cent in the United States and 4.6 per cent in Japan.
The highest was in Spain with 10.6 per cent. Two of the EU's new member states continued to post the highest unemployment rates with a rate of 18.7 per cent in Poland and 18 per cent in Slovakia.