Europe unemployed

By PAN PYLAS

Associated Press

LONDON — Unemployment across the 17 countries that use the euro ended 2011 at a record high, official figures showed Tuesday, a day after EU leaders acknowledged they would have to boost economic growth with the same urgency that they had shown in combating their nations’ debts.

Eurostat, the EU’s statistics office, said the 10.4 per cent unemployment rate in December was unchanged at its highest level since the euro was launched in 1999, as November’s was revised upward from a previous estimate of 10.3 percent.

Unemployment has been steadily rising over the past year — in December 2010, it stood at 10 percent — largely because of Europe’s debt crisis, and compares badly with the U.S., where unemployment stands at 8.5 percent.

There are huge disparities across the eurozone, however, with those countries at the front line of Europe’s current financial turmoil, such as Greece and Spain, suffering record rates of unemployment that are stoking concerns about the social fabric of their societies — Spain’s unemployment stands at a staggering 22.9 percent and Greece’s is not far behind at 19.2 percent.

At the other end of the scale, some countries like Austria are operating not far off what is considered to be the natural rate of unemployment in an economy of 4.1 per cent, while Germany’s rate at a post-unification low of 5.5 percent.

Since Europe’s debt crisis exploded around two years ago, the focus has been on austerity, with governments getting their houses in order with big, often-savage spending cuts, and tax increases.

However, there are growing signs that Europe is changing tack, and that measures to boost growth and jobs are now central to the crisis resolution effort.

On Monday, EU leaders promised to stimulate growth and create jobs.