Eurozone unemployment hits 17-year high in September

The number of Europeans without a job in the single currency area hit new record high in September. The unemployment rate in the Eurozone reached 11.6%, with analysts expecting no improvement any time soon.

While the rate reported by Eurostat, the EU's statistics office, on Wednesday marks just a slight increase from the August number of 11.5%, the figure in itself is the historic maximum since 1995 – the year Eurostat started posting figures.Within the Eurozone, Spain has the highest unemployment rate at 25.8%.Greece is not far behind at 25.1%, though its figure relates to July. Both countries, which are at the epicenter of Europe's three-year debt crisis, have youth unemployment above 50%. “European authorities so far don’t have a single strategy over tackling such a negative – until the economic system is reformed and a start in recovery, an assured fall of in the unemployment rate isn’t in view,” commented Anna Bodrova of Investcafe.“On top of that, while the region’s authorities are being occupied with talks about perspectives and plans, the number of unemployed will be just increasing. Neither companies, nor entrepreneurs are not ready not to hire but to retain the staff they’ve already got,” Bodrova concluded.