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This raises national budget deficits and inches them closer to a liquidity crisis:
Highlights
| Europe Unemployment Rate Rises More Than Expected |
| Trichet Says Spending, Deficits Can’t Keep Rising, Le Monde Says |
| Germany’s Steinbrueck Says New GDP Outlook to Be Clearly Worse |
| German Retail Sales Unexpectedly Fall After Unemployment Rises |
| France, Germany Not Satisfied With G-20, Sarkozy Says |
| Sarkozy Says Concrete Decisions Are Needed on Tax Havens |
by Jurjen van de Pol
Apr 1 (Bloomberg) — European unemployment increased more than economists expected in February to the highest in almost three years as the recession forced companies across the continent to cut output.
The jobless rate in the euro zone rose to 8.5 percent from a revised 8.3 percent in January, the European Union’s statistics office in Luxembourg said today. The February reading is the highest since May 2006 and exceeded the 8.3 percent rate economists forecast, according to the median of 23 estimates in a Bloomberg News survey. The January figure was revised higher from 8.2 percent reported on Feb. 27.
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