Europeans are losing jobs at an alarming rate. The latest numbers in from Eurostat show record-high unemployment of 10.6% for the 27 European Union countries, and 11.6% for the 17 euro zone countries. These are the highest percentages on record from data going back to 1995, and are up from a year ago—when they were 9.8% and 10.3% respectively.
Southern Europe is the hardest hit. Spain has the highest rate in Europe at 25.8%. Greece could be worse off, but didn’t report September numbers. In July, more than a quarter of its population was out of work. There’s almost no way the situation is better now. Things aren’t so hot in Portugal either. Northern neighbors Austria, Luxembourg, Germany, and the Netherlands, all reported unemployment rates of 5.4% or less.
