Finance

Finance

Eurozone unemployment at record high

01 June 2012 14:10 (UTC +04:00)

Baku - APA-Economics. The 17-nation eurozone’s unemployment rate reached the highest level since the creation of the common currency 13 years ago, climbing to 11% in April as employers slashed 110,000 jobs, CNNMoney reported.

The unemployment rate in the broader 27-nation area that makes up the European Union rose to 10.3% in April, as employers trimmed 102,000 jobs from their payrolls. That was highest EU unemployment rate on records that go back to 2000.

There were 24.7 million unemployed in the EU in April, of whom 17.4 million were in the eurozone. Both figures are far above the 12.5 million unemployed in the United States, which has a population about 6% less than the eurozone.

The U.S. Labor Department is due to issue its May jobs report later Friday. Economists surveyed by CNNMoney forecast that employers added 150,000 jobs in the month, even in the face of 12,000 job cuts at various levels of government. The unemployment rate is forecast to remain at 8.1%