More than one in four people out of work in Greece and Spain as jobless rate rises to 11.6%, according to Eurostat data
Unemployment in the eurozone has risen to a new high, with Spain recording the highest jobless rate with more than one in four out of work.
There are now 18.49 million people without jobs in the 17 countries sharing the euro, European statistics office Eurostat said on Wednesday, with an extra 146,000 joining the ranks of the unemployed last month. The jobless rate increased to 11.6% in September, the highest on record, from a revised 11.5% in August.
The lowest unemployment rates were recorded in Austria (4.4%), Luxembourg (5.2%), Germany and the Netherlands (both 5.4%). Spain (25.8%) and Greece (25.1% in July) had the highest. August data for Greece will be published next week, although the true picture is probably worse, as a growing number of Greek workers remain nominally employed but have not been paid for some time.
Howard Archer, chief European economist at IHS Global Insight, said the jobless data was "dismal", adding: "Eurozone labour markets remain under serious pressure from ongoing weakened economic activity and low business confidence."
Youth unemployment also hit a new high in Spain with 54.2% of under-25-year-olds out of work, up from 53.8%.
Across the whole European Union, 25.751 million men and women were without jobs last month – an increase of 169,000 from August – while the unemployment rate stayed at 10.6%.
By comparison, the unemployment rate was 7.9% in the UK, 7.8% in the US and 4.2% in Japan in September.
There was some good news for the eurozone too – inflation eased to 2.5% in October, from 2.6%. Energy prices continued to rise, by 7.8%, but by less than the month before, when they climbed by 9.1% year-on-year. Food became dearer, however, with prices up 3.2% compared with 2.9% in September.
Economists expect the European Central Bank to cut interest rates again before the year is out from the current record low of 0.75% to support the flagging economy, which probably slumped back to recession in the third quarter.
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