(Photo credit: Wikipedia)LONDON:Unemployment in the 17-country eurozone bloc hit another record in May as the crippling financial crisis pushed the continent toward the brink of recession, official figures showed on Monday.Eurostat, the EU's statistics office, said unemployment rose to 11.1% in May from 11% the previous month. May's rate was the highest since the Euro was launched in 1999 and adds further urgency to the eurozone countries' plan to create economic growth and cut excessive government debt.
At a summit last Friday, eurozone leaders agreed to a limited economic growth package as well as measures to boost confidence in financial markets. Those include allowing Europe's bailout fund to rescue banks directly, without adding to government debt, and not requesting painful new austerity measures in return for sovereign bailouts.
Investors cheered the summit's outcome, triggering a stock market rally which, if sustained, should help buoy confidence in the eurozone — a key step to easing the crisis.
But the unemployment data highlighted the extent of the challenge facing European leaders. May's unemployment rate compares badly with an unemployment rate of 8.2% in the United States and 4.4% in Japan, and is expected to rise further in the coming months.
Edited By Cen Fox Post Team
