Mubasher: The Eurozone’s unemployment rate declined in February, in line analysts’ forecasts and marking the lowest level since December 2008.

The jobless rate recorded 8.5% in February, matching expectations, down from 8.6% in January and 9.5% in the same month of the previous year, data by the Eurostat showed on Wednesday.

The number of unemployed people in the euro area reached 13.916 million during the second month of 2018, down 141,000 month-on-month and 1.436 million year-on-year.

As for the European Union, the unemployment rate was 7.1% in February, down from 7.2% in the previous month and 8.0% in February 2017, according to the Eurostat’s data.

By 09:54 am GMT, the EUR/USD pair climbed by 0.12% to $1.2285.