BRUSSELS - UNEMPLOYMENT is set to return as a major headache in Europe, with the European Commission forecasting on Monday that the eurozone jobless rate will rise by more than one percentage point by 2010.

In the face of extremely weak economic growth, unemployment would rise from 7.6 per cent of the workforce this year to 8.4 per cent in 2009 and to 8.7 per cent in 2010, the commission forecast.

Long the bane of European politicians, unemployment had been gradually falling in recent years but began creeping higher in Apr from a record low of 7.2 per cent in March. -- AFP