Eurozone jobless rate at record high of 11.8% amid debt crisis

Official data show the unemployment rate in the eurozone has hit a new record in November, 2012, as the 17-nation bloc continues to grapple with worsening financial crisis.

According to official figures, the jobless rate for November reached 11.8 percent, up from 11.7 percent in October.

November comes as the eurozone’s 19th consecutive month with increasing number of people out-of-work, according to Howard Archer, an analyst at the London-based Information Handling Services (IHS).

Archer said he expects the jobless rate to “move clearly above 12 percent during 2013.”

Some 330-million people are living in the bloc, about 19 million of whom are currently without a job. The figure is more than two million higher than that of last year.

The grim news for the 17-state currency area comes as Europe has been struggling with a deepening debt crisis since 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.