Eurozone / Unemployment hits record high

Unemployment across the 17 eurozone states hit an all-time high in May. Consumer price inflation rose for a second month in a row, with the spectre of deflation in recession hit Europe in the wings, according to the latest EU figures.

Unemployment rose 0.1 per cent in May, just slightly above the revised figure of 12.0 percent for April, but marginally below the original 12.2 percent, Eurostat said on Monday.

Economists polled by Reuters estimated an even gloomier forecast, expecting joblessness to reach 12.3 percent in May.

Across the currency union, 19.22 million people were unemployed, up 67,000 over the previous month. Germany, the bloc’s largest economy, saw its unemployment rate fall to 5.3 percent during that period, while unemployment in France, the area’s second largest economy, remained unchanged.

Italian unemployment breached the median mark of 12.1 percentage points, hitting 12.2 percent according to preliminary data from the Rome-based national statistics office Istat.

Spain, which is grappling with a youth unemployment epidemic which has surged to 56.5 percent, saw overall unemployment inch upwards to 26.9 per cent – the highest rate in the eurozone. Cyprus saw unemployment increase to 16.3 percent versus 15.8 per cent previously, while Greece, which is measured on a different time frame, registered a jobless rate of 26.8 percent in March.

Chosen excerpts by Job Market Monitor

via Over 19 million jobless as Eurozone unemployment hits record high — RT Business.

From Eurostat