Unemployment rate in eurozone is twice as high as in Britain

UNEMPLOYMENT in the eurozone is twice as high as it is across the rest of the developed world, figures revealed yesterday.

The jobless rate in the single currency bloc is 8.5 per cent, the organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development reported.

By contrast, the rate is 4.3 per cent across the rest of the OECD, a group of 35 leading industrialised nations whose non- eurozone members include the UK, US, Canada, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Israel, Mexico and Chile.

In Britain, unemployment has fallen to 4.2 per cent, the lowest rate since 1975, while in the US it is 3.8 per cent.

Work and Pensions Secretary Esther McVey said the British jobs market was ‘the envy of many of our European neighbours’. She said: ‘The employment rate has never been higher – with over 3.3million people moving into work since 2010 and youth unemployment has fallen by over 40 per cent in the UK over the same period.

‘In stark contrast, youth unemployment is of serious concern in many countries in Europe, with rates double and triple that of the UK. Not only a burning issue now, but storing up problems for the future as they confront a lost generation.

‘Now, as we look towards Brexit, we must seize the opportunities and not talk down the economy because the fundamentals are strong.

‘It’s a Great British success story with businesses from Exeter to Edinburgh creating jobs – helping, on average 1,000 people find a job each and every day since 2010.’

Unemployment remains painfully high across much of Europe, with the jobless rate standing at 9.2 per cent in France, 11.2 per cent in Italy, 15.9 per cent in Spain and 20.1 per cent in Greece.

Nearly 14million people are out of work in the eurozone – including 2.4million under the age of 25.

The International Monetary Fund has warned that the jobs crisis crippling the eurozone could lead to a lost generation of youngsters who may never find work.

While youth unemployment in the UK has fallen to 11.9 per cent, it is 45.4 per cent in Greece, 34.4 per cent in Spain, 33.1 per cent in Italy and 20.7 per cent in France.

Eurosceptic Tory MP Andrew Bridgen said: ‘ These figures explode the myth that the EU delivers prosperity and employment across the Continent. It is not good for jobs or productivity.

‘The euro and the eurozone are a protectionist club of low productivity and stagnant economic growth.’

Brexit campaigner Gisela Stuart, chairman of Change Britain and a former Labour MP, said: ‘The euro has been a disaster for people in Europe, especially the younger generation.

‘That’s why it’s safer to take back control rather than risk British taxpayers being on the hook for bailing out the failings of the euro.’

Earlier this year, IMF director general Christine Lagarde warned that youngsters across Europe are ‘ putting their dreams on hold’ because they cannot find work.

‘The young are falling behind,’ she said. ‘Without action, a generation may never be able to recover.’

Such is the scale of the jobs crisis in the eurozone that the unemployment rate of 8.5 per cent is actually the lowest for a decade.

In Britain, unemployment reached a post-recession peak of 8.5 per cent in late 2011 before falling sharply. The jobless rate has not been above 8.5 per cent since the mid-1990s.

And while 1.4million people are classified as unemployed in the UK, there are 2.7million looking for work in France, a country with a similar sized economy and population.