Eurozone unemployment hits record 12%

The unemployment rate in the 17 European countries that use the euro currency hit an all time record high of 12 per cent last month.

New data from Eurostat released Tuesday showed the rate remained at 12 per cent in February, the highest level seen since the currency was launched in 1999.

The data agency also revised January's official level to 12 per cent, up from a previous level of 11.9, which means the record hit actually happened earlier than first reported.

Some 33,000 new people in Europe joined the ranks of the unemployed in February. Compared to how things were a year earlier, there are now 1.8 million more unemployed people in euro zone countries.

Across the eurozone, the unemployment rate among those under 25 rose to 23.9 per cent. In Greece, the youth jobless rate hit 58 per cent. 

Certain countries fared worse than others. In Spain and Greece, the official unemployment rate is currently 26.3 and 26.4 per cent, respectively. And Portugal's rate has risen to 17.5 per cent.

On the other side of the coin, a few countries saw their unemployment rates decrease, such as Latvia (from 15.6 per cent to 14.3) Estonia (from 10.8 to 9.9) and Ireland, where the rate dropped from 15.1 per cent to 14.2 per cent.

Developed, industrial economies of Western Europe such as Austria (at 4.8 per cent), Germany (5.4), Luxembourg (5.5) and the Netherlands (6.2) currently have among the lowest unemployment rates on the continent.

The February figures came before the recent Cyprus crisis, which has reignited concerns over the future of the euro.

Separately, a closely-watched survey indicated that the eurozone recession continued in the first quarter.