Think 8.2% unemployment is bad? It’s a record 11.1% in Europe

By Tiffany Hsu

July 2, 2012 9:37 AM PT

More than one in 10 people in the euro zone is out of work, including nearly a quarter of Spaniards, pushing the currency bloc’s unemployment rate to a record high 11.1% in May.

Austerity measures and weak demand caused by the region’s long-running debt crisis, exacerbated by a job market and business environment smothered in red tape, pushed joblessness up from 11% in April and 10% in May 2011. The rate is the highest since such data were first collected in 1995.

Nearly 17.6 million Europeans in the 17-member countries are unemployed, up 88,000 from a month earlier, according to Eurostat, the official statistics provider for the European Union. In the U.S., where the unemployment rate is sitting at 8.2%, roughly 12.7 million Americans are out of work.

Japan’s jobless rate, comparatively, is 4.4%.

Troubled Spain and Greece, both existing or soon-to-be recipients of bailout funds, have the highest jobless rates in the euro zone, with 24.6% and 21.9%, respectively. A year ago, 20.9% of Spain’s workforce was unemployed, as was 15.7% of the same pool in Greece.

More than half of young people under age 25 in both countries are without a job.

Austria, with 4.1% of its workers on the hunt, has the lowest rate in the group, followed by the Netherlands at 5.1%, Luxembourg at 5.4% and Germany at 5.6%.

The dour numbers have raised expectations that the European Central Bank will soon cut interest rates to help boost the region out of its malaise.

History doesn’t bode well for future of the Eurozone

Spain formally requests aid for banks; Wall Street slides

Follow Tiffany Hsu on Twitter and Google+

Business

Tiffany Hsu

Tiffany Hsu is a former staff writer for the Los Angeles Times. Previously, she wrote about the California economy, fast food, restaurants, retail and alternative energy for the Business section. A Bay Area native, UC Berkeley graduate and eternal Nor-Cal fan, she once worked for the San Francisco Bay Guardian. She also did a stint at the Richmond Times-Dispatch, where she developed a passion for sweet tea. She still has faith that someday she’ll find two economists who agree.