- Howard Archer, the chief economist at HIS Global Insight
The jobless rate across the Eurozone's 17 countries that have the Euro in circulation remained unchanged at a record high of 11.4% in August, the EU statistics agency Eurostat said on Monday, October 1. The total number of unemployed people rose by 34,000, reaching a fresh high of 18.2 million. The highest unemployment rate was in Spain, with 25.1% of the workforce being out of work, while the lowest reading was registered in Austria, where only 4.5% are jobless.
"It is unrealistic to expect any turnaround in the near term at least in eurozone labor markets given ongoing weakened economic activity and low business confidence," said Howard Archer, the chief economist at HIS Global Insight.
"Indeed, there looks to be a very real danger that the eurozone unemployment rate could reach 12 percent in 2013."
The Stoxx Europe 600 Index gained 1.43 per cent to 272.33. Germany's DAX Index rose 1.53 per cent to 7,326.73 and France's CAC 40 Index jumped 2.39 per cent to 3,434.98.
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