Once again the number of Eurozone Citizens out of work has risen to another record all-time high in a pattern of rising joblessness that seemingly has no end in sight.
According to Eurostat, the European Union’s statistics office, unemployment across the Eurozone has risen to 12.1%, a new record for the region as the previous months’ rates were revised down, including April’s original 12.2% estimate.
Last week European leaders appeared smug that they had agreed on putting aside €8 billion to fight youth unemployment in the region, whereas in order to save the regions failing banks they spent a staggering €700 billion, a third of the Eurozone’s entire fiscal output.
Youth unemployment is a massive problem in the south of the Eurozone with Greece suffering a shockingly high level of 59.2%; Spain follows with 56.5% and Portugal with 42.1%.
The northern nations however, are much better off with under the number of youths unable to find work a lot less. Germany’s youth unemployment stands at 7.6%, Austria at 8.7% and the Netherlands at 10.6%.
Eurostat has calculated that there are 3.531m young people out of work in the Eurozone, up by 60,000 on a year ago, and 5.5m across the European Union. While the Eurozone jobless rate hit a new record high, the rate in the European Union was holding steady in May, at 10.9%.
That’s because the proportion of people out of work in some EU countries outside the euro fell, including Sweden (from 8.3% to 7.9), and Denmark (from 5.4% to 5.3%).
In total seventeen members of the Eurozone have seen their jobless rates rise in the space of a year with ten seeing any sign of improvement. Cyprus which suffered the humiliation of requiring a bailout earlier in the year saw its jobless rate jump from 11.4% in May 2012 to 16.3% this year. Slovenia, which is fighting to avoid taking a bailout, has seen its jobless rate increase from 8.6% a year ago to 11.2% today.
In total there are now 26.405 million unemployed men and women in the EU27, 19 million of those are living within Euro using countries.
The Euro meanwhile has strengthened against the Pound and US Dollar due to improving PMI and CPI data out of the region. Traders and economists appear to have ignored the continuingly awful unemployment data in favour of any positive signs in the region.
Euro (EUR) Exchange Rates
As of 11:25am
The Euro/US Dollar Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 1.3048
The Euro/Pound Sterling Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 0.8566
The Euro/ New Zealand Dollar Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 1.6771
The Euro/Australian Dollar Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 1.4198
The Euro/ Canadian Dollar Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 1.3719