Eurozone Unemployment Hits Record High, While Mario Monti Sees ‘Light at the End of Tunnel’
Bob Dillon
telegraph.co.uk
Civil servants cover their faces as they protest against government austerity measures in Madrid, Spain Photo: Reuters
EU data agency Eurostat said the seasonally-adjusted rate was the same as an upwardly-revised May toll but noted another 123,000 people lost their jobs going into the European summer, bringing the total to nearly 18m, more than 2m up on a year earlier.
Marking a 14th successive monthly rise, analysts noted a cumulative rise of 2.248m people since that series began in April last year, with London-based Howard Archer of IHS Global Insight warning that the unemployment rate “now looks odds-on” to cross 11.5pc by the end of the year, with “a very real danger” of reaching 12pc next year.
In Germany, the Federal Labour Agency said raw or unadjusted unemployment also rose sharply in July, with the total number of people out of work up by 66,800 on June at 2.88m.
Eurostat estimates that 25m men and women are unemployed across the full 27-state EU. Youth unemployment hit 22.6pc.
The figures appear to go against Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti’s belief that there is light at the end of the tunnel of the eurozone debt crisis.
Frank says: