Euro Zone Unemployment Rate Hits Record High
The euro-area jobless rate rose to a record in January as austerity measures taken to counter the debt crisis deepened the currency bloc’s recession.
Unemployment in the 17-nation euro area rose to 11.9 per cent from a revised 11.8 per cent in December, the European Union’s statistics office in Luxembourg said today, the highest since the data series started in 1995.
“The situation is very serious,” said Alexander Krueger, chief economist at Bankhaus Lampe in Dusseldorf.
“There’s no support any more from Germany. It’s more or less a sideways movement which I expect to continue. Other economies like Italy, Spain and Portugal are very bad at the moment, so in the end the unemployment rate can only climb.”
More: Euro Zone Unemployment Rate Hits Record High - the Irish Times - Fri, Mar 01, 2013