The eurozone's unemployment rate was stuck at 10 percent in July, official figures showed on Wednesday, at a time of austerity and economic slowdown in the 17-nation single currency area. Eurostat, the European Union's statistics agency, also raised its June estimate to 10 percent instead of 9.9 percent. Unemployment has now hit 10 percent for three months running in the eurozone.
Eurostat estimated that nearly 15.8 million men and women were looking for jobs in the eurozone in July, an increase of 61,000 people from the previous month. Spain recorded the worst rate again at 21.2 percent while Austria had the lowest figure at 3.7 percent followed by the Netherlands at 4.3 percent. In the wider 27-nation EU, which includes non-euro members Britain and Poland, the unemployment rate remained steady at 9.5 percent in July. Some 22.71 million people were unemployed in July across the EU, 18,000 more than in June.