Youth unemployment rate hits 23.9% – with more than 55% of Spanish and Greek under-25s out of work
Unemployment in the eurozone hit a new high in October, with young people bearing the brunt of the crisis.
Almost 19 million people in the currency bloc were out of work in October, pushing the jobless rate to a record high of 11.7%, from 11.6% in September. There were stark differences between northern and southern European countries, with Austria seeing unemployment of just 4.3%, while in Spain it hit 26.2%. Across the 27 member states of the EU, unemployment also rose, although to a lower 10.7%.
Youth unemployment in the eurozone hit 23.9%, up from 21.2% in October last year. There are now 3.6 million people under the age of 25 out of work in the region. Spain was among the worst hit, with 56% of its young people out of work. Only Greece fared worse, with slightly older data showing 57% of young people were out of work in August, as it only collects data on a quarterly basis.
Here too the different regions had divergent fortunes, with just 8.1% of young people unemployed in Germany, 8.5% in Austria, and 9.8% in the Netherlands.
Economists said the situation was likely to get worse before it got better. Christian Schulz at Berenberg Bank said: "Since the labour market usually lags the economic cycle and the overall eurozone economy is likely to deteriorate further in the fourth quarter, unemployment rates could climb further well into next year. The labour market reforms implemented this year have often made it easier for companies to lay off staff, which could contribute to unemployment rises in the short term."
Howard Archer, chief European economist at IHS Global Insight, said the data was "dismal", and could prompt an interest rate cut from the ECB when it meets next week.
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