Eurozone joblessness rises to new record in May

PanARMENIAN.Net - Joblessness in the eurozone rose to a new euro-era record in May, pushed higher by lay-offs in Austria, France and Spain as the 2-1/2 year debt crisis continued to eat away at the fragile economy, according to Reuters.

Around 17.56 million people were out of work in the 17-nation eurozone in May, or 11.1 percent of the working population, a new high since records began in 1995, the EU's statistics office Eurostat said on Monday, July 2.

Despite an agreement by eurozone leaders at a summit last week to help stricken banks and try to bring down unaffordable borrowing costs for southern Europe, the eurozone's economy remains stuck in a deep malaise.

Companies in the eurozone have frozen or cut back spending as concerns about the future of the currency bloc saps confidence and in turn pushes them to keep labor costs down.

Weak demand from European households, as well as from the United States and Asia, is also taking a toll. A German-led drive to cut deficits is forcing governments to shrink spending.

Unemployment rose by a tenth of a percentage point in France, the eurozone's second largest economy, to 10.1 percent, while joblessness in Spain, the worst in the bloc, rose again to 24.6 percent from 24.3 percent in April.

Even in wealthier Austria, the number of people out of work ticked up by two tenths of a percentage point to 4.1 percent in May, although that puts unemployment back at January levels.