Eurozone jobless rate unchanged at record 12.1%: Eurostat

(BRUSSELS) - Unemployment remained at record highs in the 17-nation eurozone in June but there was some hope of an improvement as the numbers of those out of work fell slightly, official data showed on Wednesday.

The overall eurozone jobless rate came in at 12.1 percent, unchanged from May, the Eurostat data agency said. The number of unemployed people, however, fell by 24,000 to 19.26 million.

In the 27-member European Union, 10.9 percent of the workforce was out of a job, down from a revised 11 percent in May, it said.

Here too the total unemployed was lower, falling 32,000 to 26.42 million in June.

Other recent indicators have encouraged hopes the stuttering eurozone economy may at last be on the point of escaping a deep and damaging recession which has cost millions of jobs.

The damage done by the debt crisis and slump is clear in the figures -- in June 2012, the eurozone jobless rate was 11.4 percent, with the EU on 10.5 percent.

The crisis has affected the 16-25 age segment worst of all, with jobless rates running at catastrophic levels of 58.7 percent in Greece and 56.1 percent in Spain.

Wednesday's data showed that the eurozone youth unemployment rate inched up to 23.9 percent in June from 23.8 percent in May, with the EU up to 23.2 percent after 23.1 percent.

Compared with June 2012, Eurostat noted that youth jobless numbers in the EU had fallen by 43,000 to 5.51 million but in the eurozone, it had increased by the same amount to 3.52 million.