Euro zone unemployment rate hits 11.6% in September

Brussels, Belgium (4E) – The European statistics agency announced on Wednesday that the 17-nation euro zone unemployment rate inched higher to 11.6 per cent in September from the previous record of 11.5 per cent in August.

Eurostat also reported that the number of jobless people throughout the 27 member countries of the European Union increased in September by 169,000 to 25.8 million compared to August. Countries from the eurozone accounted for most of the increase, rising by 146,000 during the same period.

Spain topped the countries with the highest unemployment rate with 25.8 per cent, while Austria had the lowest rate of unemployed adults at 4.4 per cent. Northern economies Germany and the Netherlands each had 5.4 per cent.

In a separate report by Eurostat, preliminary figure for this year’s inflation in the euro zone stood at 2.5 per cent in September compared to August’s reading of 2.6 per cent.

The biggest contributor to inflation came from higher energy prices, which rose 7.8 per cent in October from the previous year. The figure, however, is slower compared to September, which posted a 9.1 per cent rise year-on-year.

Inflationary pressure also came from food, which jumped 3.2 per cent from a year ago, and up by 2.9 per cent from the previous month.

Economists are expecting another rate cut from the European Central Bank before the year ends from the current rate of 0.75 per cent, which is already a record low. The move could provide support to the slowing economy in the bloc, which is seen to fall into recession in the third quarter.

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