Eurozone annual inflation is expected to be 1.5% in April 2010 according to a flash estimate issued by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union. It was 1.4% in March. Meanwhile the unemployment rate in the Eurozone was steady at 10% in March. Germany was only EU country where the jobless rate fell in the 12 month period from March 2009.

Eurozone inflation is measured by the Monetary Union Index of Consumer Prices (MUICP). To compute the MUICP flash estimates, Eurostat uses early price information relating to the reference month from Member States for which data are available4 as well as early information about energy prices.The flash estimation procedure for the MUICP combines historical information with partial information on price developments in the most recent months to give a total index for the Eurozone. No detailed breakdown is available. Experience has shown the procedure to be reliable (19 times exactly anticipating the inflation rate and 5 times differing by 0.1 over the last two years).

The Eurozone (EA16) seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate was 10.0% in March 2010, the same as in February. It was 9.1% in March 2009. The EU27 unemployment rate was 9.6% in March 2010, unchanged compared with February. It was 8.5% in March 2009.

Eurostat estimates that 23.13 million men and women in the EU27, of whom 15.83 million were in the Eurozone, were unemployed in March 2010. Compared with February 2010, the number of persons unemployed increased by 123,000 in the EU27 and by 101,000 in the Eurozone. Compared with March 2009, unemployment went up by 2.55 million in the EU27 and by 1.39 million in the Eurozone.

Among the member states, the lowest unemployment rates were recorded in the Netherlands (4.1%) and Austria (4.9%), and the highest rates in Latvia (22.3%) and Spain (19.1%). The rate was 13.2% in Ireland.

Compared with a year ago, one member state recorded a fall in the unemployment rate and twenty-six an increase. The fall was observed in Germany (7.4% to 7.3%), and the smallest increases in Luxembourg (5.4% to 5.6%) and Malta (6.7% to 6.9%). The highest increases were registered in Latvia (14.3% to 22.3%), Estonia (7.6% to 15.5% between the fourth quarters of 2008 and 2009) and Lithuania (8.1% to 15.8% between the fourth quarters of 2008 and 2009).

Between March 2009 and March 2010, the unemployment rate for males rose from 8.9% to 10.0% in the Eurozone and from 8.6% to 9.8% in the EU27. The female unemployment rate increased from 9.3% to 10.1% in the Eurozone and from 8.5% to 9.4% in the EU27.

In March 2010, the youth unemployment rate (under-25s) was 19.9% in the Eurozone and 20.6% in the EU27. In March 2009 it was 19.0% and 18.9% respectively. The lowest rate was observed in the Netherlands (7.4%), and the highest rates in Latvia (44.9% in the first quarter of 2010) and Spain (41.2%).

In the US, the unemployment rate was 9.7% in March 2010. In Japan it was 4.8% in February 2010.

The Eurozone (EA16) consists of Belgium, Germany, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Italy, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Austria, Portugal, Slovenia, Slovakia and Finland.

The EU27 includes Belgium (BE), Bulgaria (BG), the Czech Republic (CZ), Denmark (DK), Germany (DE), Estonia (EE), Ireland (IE), Greece (EL), Spain (ES), France (FR), Italy (IT), Cyprus (CY), Latvia (LV), Lithuania (LT), Luxembourg (LU), Hungary (HU), Malta (MT), the Netherlands (NL), Austria (AT), Poland (PL), Portugal (PT), Romania (RO), Slovenia (SI), Slovakia (SK), Finland (FI), Sweden (SE) and the United Kingdom (UK).

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