Euro zone jobless at record 11.6%

Unemployment in the euro zone 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 euro zone states, European statistics office Eurostat said yesterday, with an extra 146,000 joining the ranks of the unemployed last month.

The jobless rate increased to 11.6 per cent in September, the highest on record, from a revised 11.5 per cent in August. The lowest unemployment rates were recorded in Austria (4.4 per cent), Luxembourg (5.2 per cent), Germany and the Netherlands (both 5.4 per cent), which are at near full employment.

Spain (25.8 per cent) and Greece (25.1 per cent in July) had the highest unemployment in the euro zone, with France and Italy both at 10.8 per cent). 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.

The UK unemployment rate was 7.9 per cent, it was 7.8 per cent in the US and 4.2 per cent in Japan in September. – (Guardian service)