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Unemployment in the Euro countries continued to rise in November 2012, creeping up to an all-time high of 11.8%, official figures by the EU statistics office show today. Overall, joblessness across the EU remained flat at 10.7%.
Other world economies showed much lower unemployment figures in November with the US posting a rate of 7.8% and Japan of 4.1%.
It is estimated that 26.06 million were out of work across Europe, seeing a jump of 2.01 million from a year earlier.
Austria, Luxembourg, Germany and the Netherlands were among the countries where unemployment was lowest and remained under 6%. The north-south divide prevailed as troubled Spain and Greece showed the highest and most worrying rates above 26%.
“In the southern areas of the euro zone, demand is very weak and therefore there is no way to see fundamental improvement in labour-market conditions. There might be some stabilisation in the labor market in the second half of the year where one can expect this trend of growing unemployment numbers to stop, but that’s not the story for the moment,” said Uwe Duerkop, an economist at Landesbank Berlin.
Youth unemployment in November meanwhile rose year-on-year by 329,000 in the EU to reach a rate of 23.7%.