Eurozone unemployment level remains high

Spain’s unemployment rate was marked highest in the Eurozone at 22.9 per cent in November [GALLO/GETTY]

Unemployment level in the eurozone, the 17-nation European monetary union, has remained at an all-time record high at 10.3 per cent for the second month running in November, official figures show.

The Eurostat data agency estimated that more than 16.3 million adults were out of work in the eurozone in November after the ranks of the unemployed rose by 587,000 compared with November the previous year, according to the data released on Friday.

The ranks of the unemployed has stayed above 10 per cent for seven consecutive months across the bloc as the monetary union struggles to create more jobs amid mounting debt crisis.

The highest unemployment rate was registered once again in Spain, the biggest in the 27-nation European Union [EU], where it rose to 22.9 per cent, while 18.8 per cent of Greeks were without a job.

By comparison, Austria had the lowest rate at 4.0 per cent, followed by Luxembourg and the Netherlands at 4.9 percent each.

The jobless rate across the wider EU also remained unchanged at 9.8 per cent.

More than 23.6 million people were unemployed in the EU in October, an increase of 55,000 from October 2010.

Youth joblessness – people under 25 – increased to more than 5.5 million across the EU, or 22.3 per cent, and to more than 3.3 million in the eurozone, or 21.7 per cent.

A year earlier youth unemployment stood at 21 per cent in the EU and 20.6 per cent in the eurozone.

The eurozone, which accounts for about 16 per cent of the world economy, will struggle to grow in 2012 and could contract by as much as 1 per cent, with its impact reverberating to the US and Asia.