The number of people out of work in the euro zone climbed to another record high in September, underscoring the damage the region's long-running fiscal and borrowing crisis is having on the real economy as governments continue to cut spending to try to control their debts.
Eurostat, the European Union's official statistics agency, said Wednesday that 18.49 million people were unemployed in the euro zone in September, after 146,000 more people lost their jobs. The total is the highest on record for the 17 nations that now use the euro, based on data going back to 1995. The rise put the jobless rate at 11.6% of the workforce, up from 11.5% and the highest on record.
Economists polled by Dow Jones Newswires had expected an 11.5% unemployment rate.
The southern countries at the heart of the debt crisis reported the highest jobless rates, reflecting steep falls in economic activity as governments, consumers and businesses have all cut spending. Unemployment in Greece and Spain exceeds a quarter of those eligible to work, and accounts for more than half of the workforce aged under 25.
For the euro zone as a whole, the youth unemployment rate climbed to 23.3%, another record.
Eurostat also reported Wednesday a fall in the rate of growth in consumer prices that, if continued, could ease the strain on household incomes and make it easier for the European Central Bank to support the economy with further stimulus.
The annual rate of consumer price inflation in the euro zone was 2.5% in October, a preliminary estimate from Eurostat showed, down from 2.6% in September and meeting economists' expectations.
The inflation rate jumped to 2.6% in August due to an increase in energy prices.
