Eurozone jobless rate hits 15-year record high

Official figures show that the unemployment rate in the Eurozone has hit a 15-year record high of 10.8 percent in February 2012.

According to Eurostat, the European Union statistics office, unemployment in the eurozone rose to 10.8 percent in February from 10.7 percent the previous month.

“Soaring unemployment is clearly adding to the pressure on household incomes from aggressive fiscal tightening in the region’s periphery,” senior European economist at Capital Economics research firm, Jennifer McKeown said.

In February, an estimated 24.55 million people were unemployed in the EU, an increase of 1.87 million from the same period last year.

The eurozone unemployment rate has risen for 10 consecutive months, as nations across the 17-nation currency bloc enforce austerity measures to fend off the two-year debt crisis.

The implementation of austerity cuts have often been met with incidents of social unrest and massive street protests in many European countries.

There are fears that more delays in resolving the eurozone debt crisis, which began in Greece in late 2009 and infected Italy, Spain and France last year, could push not only Europe but also much of the rest of the developed world back into recession.