Europe's Increasingly-Serious Unemployment Problem Summed up in Charts

The eurozone’s unemployment situation went from bad to worse in April as the 17-member union broke yet another record, putting itself on track to pass the 20 million mark this year.

“Eurostat, the European Union's statistics office, said Friday that the unemployment rate rose to 12.2 percent in April from the previous record of 12.1 percent the month before,” the Associated Press reports. “In 2008, before the worst of the financial crisis, it was around 7.5 percent.”

“A net 95,000 people joined the ranks of the unemployed, taking the total to 19.38 million,” the report continues.

EU area unemployment. (courtesy Zero Hedge)

It’s worth noting that the eurozone’s unemployment problems are not uniform.

“The unemployment rate for the overall eurozone masks sharp disparities among individual countries. Unemployment in Greece and Spain top 25 percent. In Germany, the rate is a low 5.4 percent,” the AP notes.

“The differences are particularly stark when looking at the rates of youth unemployment. While Germany's youth unemployment stands at a relatively benign 7.5 percent, well over half of people aged 16 to 25 in Greece and Spain are jobless,” the report adds.

In fact, as Italy passes the 40 percent mark, Germany’s rate is only 7.5 percent -- 20-year low territory:

EU Youth unemployment. (Courtesy Zero Hedge)

But Germany’s excellent record aside, youth unemployment in countries such as Spain and Greece has become a serious and ongoing problem. Indeed, as noted earlier on TheBlaze, youth unemployment has likely contributed to the rise of the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party in Greece.

And speaking of Germany, it’s also worth noting that while other eurozone countries continue to struggle with recession (Greece is in its sixth year), the Deutschland enjoys solid economic growth.

But Germany alone may not be able to turn things around.

“Eurostat said Friday that inflation in the eurozone rose to 1.4 percent in the year to May from the 38-month low of 1.2 percent recorded in April,” the report adds. “It attributed the increase to rising food, alcohol and tobacco prices.”

World unemployment. (Courtesy Zero Hedge)

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Featured image AP photo.