Venezuelan unemployment rises to 19.8 pct in March

Reuters, 05.29.03, 9:13 AM ET

CARACAS, Venezuela, May 28 (Reuters) - Venezuelan unemployment climbed to 19.8 percent in March compared with 15.1 percent a year earlier as a two-month strike drove the economy deeper into recession, the National Statistics Institute said on Thursday.

The jobless rate, down slightly from 20.7 percent in February, climbed as the economy of the world's No. 5 oil exporter contracted 29 percent in the first quarter of the year.