LONDON -- Trading volumes in Europe jumped on Friday as investors awaited a key non-farm payrolls number from the United States.
The most optimistic forecasters expect that the U.S. economy added jobs in December after two years of losses. Nonfarm payrolls shed just 11,000 jobs in November. (See "All Eyes On U.S. Jobs Figure.")
Over the last two years the United States has shed 7.2 million jobs, the biggest as a percentage of all jobs since World War II was ending in 1944-45, according to TradeTheNews.com. President Obama was due to comment on the U.S. economy at 2.40 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.
Europe also had its own jobless numbers to grapple with on Friday. New data from the European Union showed that the Euro Zone unemployment rate had risen to 10% in November, the highest rate since the single European currency was introduced in 1999.
Among the member countries that use the euro, Spain had the highest unemployment rate at a whopping 19.4%, while the Netherlands had the lowest at 3.9%. (See "Europe's Best And Worst Countries To Find A Job.")
Latvia has the highest unemployment rate in all of Europe, at 19.7%, followed by Spain. Both countries suffered from massive housing and construction bubbles and a subsequent dearth of jobs for temporary workers.
Source:forbes.com/
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