Unemployment rate around the eurozone increased to a record 12.1 per cent in May compared with 12.0 percent in April, Eurostat, the European Union’s statistical office announced on Monday. Excluding the eurozone, the jobless rate in the EU was at 10.9 per cent in May compared to previous month. The total number of unemployed in the European Union stood at 26.4 million, of which 19.2 million are in the eurozone.
Jobless rates differ significantly across the EU. Austria has the lowest joblessness at 4.7 per cent, while Germany’s unemployment was at 5.3 per cent. Predictably, the worst were Spain and Greece with joblessness rates of 26.9 per cent and 26.8 per cent. The UK’s unemployment 7.7 percent was relatively good compared to southern European underachievers. Most EU countries have unemployment rates in double digits.
Youth unemployment figures were alarming as Greece was by far the poorest of them all with 59.2 per cent of its youth without a job. In Spain, the number was 56.5 per cent and in Portugal 42.1 per cent. The UK’s youth joblessness numeral was 20.2 per cent. The top performer in the EU on unemployment rates among the young was Germany with 7.6 per cent. In general, seasonally adjusted youth joblessness rate was at 23.0 per cent in the EU during May, and 23.8 per cent in the eurozone. These numbers signify a trivial increase from the same month last in 2012.
