Financial markets are braced for a rocky ride next week if voters in France and Greece strike a blow against the centrally imposed deficit targets that have been at the heart of Europe's response to the debt crisis over the past two year Rising unemployment and plunging business confidence in the euro area revealed the increasingly fragile state of the region's economy on Wednesday, as voters in France and Greece prepare to deliver their verdict on austerity in Sunday elections. Official figures showed that unemployment across the 17-member single currency zone increased by 169,000 in March, for the 11th consecutive month, to hit 17.37m. The unemployment rate was 10.9%, the highest level in its history. Even in Germany, which has so far largely escaped unscathed from the downturn sweep of the labour market, unemployment began to tick up in March, though it remained at just 5.6% of the workforce. There was also evidence that businesses are being hit by what many analysts expect ...
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