Belgian unemployment rises in May

The number of people out of work in Belgium stands at 8.5 percent, according to the latest figures released by Eurostat on Tuesday.
Eurostat, the European Union's (EU) statistical agency, said the number of unemployed in Belgium stood at 422,000, slightly above the April figure of 420,000.
Overall, the percentage of people out of work in the country is 8.5 percent, a slight rise since May last year, when the figure was 8.4 percent.
Belgium's unemployment rate is below the average for the EU, which stands at 10.3 percent. The average unemployment for euro area countries, meanwhile, is 11.6 percent.
Youth unemployment -- the number of under-25s out of work -- is at 23.4 percent in Belgium, above the EU average of 22.2 percent. The euro area average is 23.3 percent.
In the EU, Austria has the lowest unemployment rates at 4.7 percent, while Spain has recorded the highest at 26.8 percent.