Euro Zone unemployment reaches a ten year high

Over 9% of the labour force within the Euro Zone is now out of work according to the newly released unemployment figures for the sixteen countries that are part of the single currency

Despite massive economic stimulus packages, the rate of unemployment is expected to continue to rise because unemployment tends to lag the economic cycle.

The Telegraph reports that

“Job losses are unevenly spread, meaning that countries are at different stages of the job cycle and subject to vastly different political pressures, making it very hard for the European Central Bank to steer a common course”

The unemployment rate in the 16-nation eurozone rose for the 13th month in a row to 9.2% in April, from 8.9% in March as 396,000 more people lost their jobs, bringing the number of people out of work to 14.579 million. It is the highest unemployment rate since September 1999.

This BBC video provides some useful background

Here are some related blog posts on the Euro