European Unemployment Rate Rises To The Highest Level Since 1999

Release Explanation: Measures the number of jobs created, or the percentage of employed/unemployed in the labor market. 'Over time the Employment Data will affect all economic releases, it does however take time for labor trends to form,' TheLFB-Forex.com Trade Team said.

TheLFB-Forex.com Trade Desk Thoughts: The unemployment rate in the Euro-area continues to rise as the economic slowdown affects the labor market. The latest release, for the month of April, shows that the unemployment rate has reached 9.1%, more than was expected.

About 14.579 million persons were unemployed in the Euro-area, up by a huge 556K from one month earlier. From one year ago, the unemployment rate rose by 1.9%, or 4.653 million persons.

Among the Member States, the lowest unemployment rate was recorded in the Netherlands (2.8%), and the highest rates in Spain (18.1%), Latvia (17.4%) and Lithuania (16.8%). For a second consecutive month Austria, was the only country that recorded a lower unemployment rate, down from 4.3% in March to 4.2% in April. From one year ago, the highest increases were registered in Lithuania (4.3% to 16.8%), Latvia (6.1% to 17.4%) and Estonia (3.7% to 13.9%).

Forex Technical Reaction: The euro had no clear direction during the European session, even though it moved somewhat lower during the Asian trading hours. 1.4100 has managed to hold as support and the pair is currently trading near the 1.4125 level.

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