Eurozone unemployment hits record 10.3% in October

Eurozone unemployment rose to an all-time record of 10.3 per cent in October, official figures showed yesterday as the indebted 17-nation bloc falls towards a recession.

The Eurostat data agency estimated that nearly 16.3 million men and women were out of work last month after the ranks of the unemployed rose by 126,000 compared with September.

The seasonally-adjusted rate was above the 10.2 per cent forecast by analysts polled by Dow Jones Newswires, the same percentage as September.

The jobless rate across the wide, 27-nation European Union also rose as it reached 9.8 per cent in October compared to 9.7 per cent a month earlier. Almost 23.6 million people were unemployed in the EU in October, an increase of 130,000 from September.

The highest unemployment rate was still in Spain where it rose to 22.8 per cent in October compared to 20.5 per cent a year earlier.

In Greece, a nation trapped in the eurozone debt crisis, the jobless rate soared to 18.3 per cent in August (the most recent available data) compared to 12.9 per cent the same month in 2010.

Austria recorded the lowest rate at 4.1 per cent, followed by Luxembourg 4.7 per cent and the Netherlands at 4.8 per cent.