According to the latest figures from Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, Ireland’s unemployment rate of 14.9pc for July 2012 sees it ranked fifth-highest among the 17 countries of the Eurozone.
Spain and Greece were at the top of the table with rates of 25.1pc and 23.1pc, respectively. Those under 25 are worst affected, with Spain’s youth unemployment rate at 52.9pc and Greece at 53.8pc.
Greece’s unemployment figures saw the highest year-on-year increase, jumping 6.3pc from 16.8pc at the same time last year. Across the Eurozone, there are 2.051m more people unemployed than last year, making it a total of 18m. This equates to a Eurozone unemployment rate of 11.3pc – the highest rate recorded since the Eurozone was formed in 1999.
However, it’s not bad news everywhere, as 10 EU member states saw a drop in unemployment compared to the same time last year, the most significant falls being in Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia.
Austria recorded the lowest unemployment rate at 4.5pc and it is joined by The Netherlands (5.3pc), Germany (5.5pc) and Luxembourg (5.5pc) at the bottom of the table.
Across all 27 EU member states, the unemployment rate is 10.4pc, while unemployment in the USA is at 8.3pc and in Japan the rate is 4.3pc.
Unemployment line image via Shutterstock
