According to official figures, eurozone unemployment rate has reached another record high in April 2013.
The seasonally-adjusted rate for April 2013 was 12.2%, up from 12.1% the month before.
An extra 95,000 people were out of work in the 17 countries that use the euro, taking the total to 19.38 million.
Both Greece and Spain have jobless rates above 25%. The lowest unemployment rate is in Austria at 4.9%.
The European Commission’s statistics office, Eurostat, said Germany had an unemployment rate of 5.4% while Luxembourg’s was 5.6%.
The highest jobless rates are in Greece (27.0% in February 2013), Spain (26.8%) and Portugal (17.8%).
In France, Europe’s second largest economy, the number of jobless people rose to a new record high in April.
“We do not see a stabilization in unemployment before the middle of next year,” said Frederik Ducrozet, an economist at Credit Agricole in Paris.
“The picture in France is still deteriorating.”
Eurozone unemployment rate has reached another record high in April 2013
Youth unemployment remains a particular concern. In April, 3.6 million people under the age of 25 were out of work in the eurozone, which translated to an unemployment rate of 24.4%.
Figures from the Italian government showed 40.5% of young people in Italy are unemployed.
“We have to deal with the social crisis, which is expressed particularly in spreading youth unemployment, and place it at the centre of political action,” said Italy’s President Giorgio Napolitano.
In the 12 months to April, 1.6 million people lost their jobs in the eurozone.
While the jobless figure in the eurozone climbed for the 24th consecutive month, the unemployment rate for the full 27-member European Union remained at 11%.
The eurozone is in its longest recession since it was created in 1999. At 1.4%, inflation is far below the 2% target set by the European Central Bank (ECB).
Consumer spending remains subdued. Figures released on Friday showed that retail sales in Germany fell 0.4% in April compared with the previous month.
Earlier this week, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) predicted that the eurozone economy would contract by 0.6% this year.
According to Carsten Brzeski, an economist at ING, in the past, the eurozone has needed economic growth of about 1.5% to create jobs.
Some consider that the ECB needs to do more than simply cutting interest rates to boost economic activity and create jobs.
Earlier this month, the ECB lowered its benchmark interest rate to 0.50% from 0.75%, the first cut in 10 months, and said it was “ready to act if needed” if more measures were required to boost the eurozone’s economic health.
In its report earlier this week, the OECD hinted that the ECB might want to expand quantitative easing (QE) as a measure to encourage stronger growth.
The European Central Bank is due to meet next week.
[youtube tKUT_jY0uqo]
A McDonald’s outpost in Winchendon, Massachusetts, is demanding a bachelor degree in a call-out for a full time cashier.
It used to be high school drop outs flipping burgers at McDonald’s but now the applicants must have 1-2 years of cashier experience before they’ll be trusted with the Big-Mac-selling responsibility, according to the advert.
“Get a weekly paycheck with a side order of food, folks and fun,” the independent McDonald’s franchise boasts.
A McDonald’s outpost in Winchendon, Massachusetts, is demanding a bachelor degree in a call-out for a full time cashier
In the ad, uploaded on jobdiagnosis.com, the Winchendon McDonald’s restaurant says it wants “friendly people… to smile while serving lots of guests daily”, and declares “work with your friends or make some new ones!”.
While it may be tricky to score the clearly competitive role, it’ll be worth it, according to the chain.
The successful applicant has the chance to work their way up the company ladder, the ad insists, boating impressive “advancement opportunities”.
The McDonald’s website also lists the full time position in Spanish, but doesn’t give a salary.
A management position also listed starts at $10 an hour, with a sign on bonus if the applicant has previously worked at a McDonald’s branch.
With colleges churning out more graduates and youth unemployment at 11.5%, youth advocates reckon the unusually high qualifications McDonald’s is demanding are a sign of the times.
“Sadly we’ve taxed-and-spent our way to an economy in which there’s intense competition for just about any job… and young people are getting screwed over even worse than the country overall,” Evan Feinberg, president of the Washington-based youth advocacy group Generation Opportunity, told the Washington Examiner.
World jobless numbers rose by 4 million in 2012 to 197 million and is expected to grow further, the UN labour agency warns.
In a recent report, the International Labour Organization (ILO) said the worst affected were youth: nearly 13% of the under 24s were unemployed.
It said global unemployment was projected to rise 5.1 million this year and by a further 3 million in 2014.
The trend reflected a downturn in economic growth, the document said.
This was particularly the case in developed countries.
World jobless numbers rose by 4 million in 2012 to 197 million and is expected to grow further, the UN labour agency warns
The report – Global Employment Trends 2013 – said that 6% of the world’s workforce were without a job in 2012.
It revealed that long-term unemployment was also growing, pointing out that a third of Europe’s jobless had been without work for more than a year.
Many were giving up, with the report estimating that 39 million people had withdrawn from the labour market.
“An uncertain economic outlook, and the inadequacy of policy to counter this, has weakened aggregate demand, holding back investment and hiring,” ILO director general Guy Ryder said.
The report also called for more funds to be injected in vocational training to equip young people to do the jobs available.
“This is a massive waste of the lives of young people and their talents, and extraordinarily damaging to the people themselves and their societies,” Guy Ryder said.
The ILO pointed out that countries which had retained apprenticeships – such as Germany, Austria and Switzerland – had the lowest levels of youth unemployment.
