Unemployment in the eurozone has risen to a new record, with more than one in four out of work in Spain and Greece.
There are now 18.49 million people without jobs in the 17 countries sharing the euro, said the European statistics office Eurostat on Wednesday with an extra 146,000 joining the ranks of the unemployed last month.
Youth unemployment – joblessness among under-25s – rose to 23.3%, up from 21% during the same month a year ago.
The prospect of high and rising unemployment, especially among younger workers, is expected to persuade the European Central Bank to cut interest rates in the new year from the current record low of 0.75% to support the flagging economy, which probably slumped back to recession in the third quarter, analysts said.
But in contrast to the hope of stimulus from the ECB, Brussels and most eurozone governments have put cuts in spending ahead of schemes to create jobs, despite predictions that the situation will worsen over the coming months.
Portugal's right of centre administration on Wednesday pushed through its third attempt at a budget for 2013, which is expected to lead to a third year of contraction and rising unemployment. Likewise Greece's coalition government published €13.5bn of spending cuts and tax rises that will result in a sixth year of falling GDP and and increase in the jobless rate.
Eurostat said the jobless rate across the eurozone increased to 11.6% in September, the highest on record, from a revised 11.5% in August.
Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/oct/31/eurozone-unemployment-record-high-eurostat
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