BRUSSELS, April 1 (Reuters) - Unemployment in the euro zone jumped more than expected in February to 8.5 percent, data showed on Wednesday, underlining the speed of economic deterioration a day before the ECB meets on interest rates.
Joblessness in the 16 countries using the euro rose from January's upwardly revised 8.3 percent of the workforce, Eurostat, the European Union's statistics office, said.
Economists had expected a level of 8.3 percent for February.
The number of jobless in February rose by 319,000 to 13.486 million in the euro zone and by 478,000 to 19.156 million in the whole of the 27-nation European Union.
Among euro zone members, Ireland and Spain saw the biggest increases in unemployment in February, both up 0.7 percentage point to 10.0 and 15.5 percent respectively.
Unemployment rose in all euro zone countries for which data was available except the Netherlands, where it stayed at 2.7 percent for the seventh month in a row.
Economists say unemployment is a lagging indicator, showing with a delay the effects of processes well under way in a sharply slowing global economy.
But the speed of the rise in unemployment and its negative effects on demand are likely to add pressure on the European Central Bank, which meets on interest rates on Thursday, to cut borrowing costs by 50 basis points to 1.0 percent. (Reporting by Jan Strupczewski, editing by Dale Hudson)