Eurozone jobless rate remains unchanged at record 12.1%

Official data shows eurozone unemployment rate has remained unchanged at the record high of 12.1 percent in July for the fifth consecutive month.

The data released by the Eurostat statistics agency on Friday showed the number of people without work in the eurozone fell by 15,000 to 19.23 million from the previous month but the drop did not affect the total percentage rate.

The agency also presented the unemployment rate for the full 28-member European Union, which was unchanged at 11 percent, with 26.65 million people unemployed.

EU Employment Commissioner Laszlo Andor said “clearly it is unacceptable” that so many should continue to be without work.

“The recent improvements are minimal and the situation is still very fragile. This is no time for celebration or complacency,” said Andor.

When comparing on a year-on-year basis, the unemployment rate for both the eurozone and EU had increased by around one million respectively from July 2012.

In addition, the report showed that the unemployment rate among the youth aged 16-25 continues at a high level of 24 percent in the eurozone and 23.4 percent in the EU. Once more, Greece is the worst affected country with a youth jobless rate of 62.9 percent, while Spain was at 56.1 percent in July.

Analysts had hoped the report would present better figures to give indications that the eurozone is coming out of its deep 18-month recession, which has taken with it millions of jobs.

“July’s unemployment figures confirm that this is not yet boosting the labor market,” said Jennifer McKeown at Capital Economics.

“With the unemployment rate still at a record high of 12.1 percent, the labor market is not yet staging a meaningful recovery,” said McKeown, adding that it was likely that “job cuts will continue for the time being.”

Europe plunged into financial crisis in early 2008.

The worsening debt crisis has forced the EU governments to adopt harsh austerity measures and tough economic reforms, which have triggered incidents of social unrest and massive protests in many European countries.