September 5, 2002	Thursday	Jamadi-us-Saani26,1423

BRUSSELS, Sept 4: The unemployment rate in the euro zone remained stable at 8.3 per cent of the workforce in July from June but had risen 0.3 percentage points over 12 months, the EU’s statistics branch, Eurostat, said on Wednesday.

Economists polled by AFP’s financial news unit AFX had forecast a July rate of 8.4 per cent, which had also been Eurostat’s previous estimate.

In the 15 countries of the European Union, unemployment was unchanged in July over one month at 7.7 per cent and had risen 0.4 percentage points from July 2001, Eurostat said.

In July 2001, the unemployment rate stood at eight per cent in the euro zone and 7.3 per cent in the EU-15. The figures were seasonally adjusted and calculated using the criteria of the ILO. —AFP