Eurozone unemployment unchanged

Unemployment in the eurozone remained stable in March as a hiring spree remained on course despite political tremors from Brexit and high-stakes elections in France, EU figures showed Monday.

The Eurostat statistics agency said the jobless rate in the 19-nation eurozone remained at 9.5 percent, though unemployment rose in trouble spot Italy.

This kept the unemployment rate at its lowest level since April 2009.

During the worst of the debt crisis, unemployment in the single currency bloc peaked at 12.1 percent with 19.3 million people looking for work in April 2013.

The number of unemployed four years later stood at just over 15.5 million, according to the Eurostat.

The latest figure was higher than the 9.4 percent unemployment predicted by analysts compiled by Factset, a data company.

The rate was again lowest in Germany, the eurozone's biggest economy, with 3.9 percent in March, while the second economy, France, kept its rate stable in 10.1 percent.

Greece remained the country with the most unemployed at 23.5 percent (according to January figures), followed by Spain with 18.2 percent in March.

Italy bucked the trend with unemployment up from 11.5 percent to 11.7 percent.