HispanicBusiness

Unemployment in the eurozone climbed for the 13th consecutive month in May to hit a record 11.1 percent, data published Monday showed, as an economic downturn deepens across the region.

Releasing the figures, the European Union's statistics office Eurostat said the increase came after another 88,000 people lost their jobs in the 17-member currency bloc, bringing the total without work to 17.6 million. This was 1.8 million more than a year earlier.

Unemployment now stands at its highest level since the launch of the euro about 13 years ago.

The rise in the jobless rate from 11 per cent in April was in line with analysts' forecasts and followed the tough round of fiscal austerity launched across the eurozone to help slash high debt-and-deficit levels.

But ING Bank economist Martin van Vliet warned that the downturn in the eurozone labour market is not over yet.

"The employment expectations indices from the European Commission's business survey have generally worsened sharply in recent months, pointing to further increases in unemployment over the coming months," he said.

Underscoring the weak state of the eurozone economy, the London-based research group Markit Economics said Monday the final reading of its closely watched manufacturing purchasing managers' index came in at 45.1 in June, unchanged from May.

This represented the fastest slowdown in factory output in 3 years. A reading below 50 indicates a contraction in activity.

"Companies are clearly preparing for worse to come, cutting back on both staff numbers and stocks of raw materials at the fastest rates for two-and-a-half years," said Markit's chief economist Chris Williamson releasing the survey.

"The PMI suggests that the goods-producing sector contracted by around 1 percent in the second quarter, with this steep rate of decline looking set to accelerate further as we move into the second half of the year," he said.

The Eurostat jobs data showed the nations at the centre of the region's long-running debt crisis were the hardest hit.

With an unemployment rate of 24.5 percent, Spain was once again in the unenviable position of having the largest number out of work in Europe.

The jobless rate for Greece stood at 21.9 pe cent in March, the last month that data was available for the debt-hit state.

Unemployment in the 27-member EU also nudged up to 10.3 percent in May from 10.2 percent in April after job queues swelled by 151,000 people in May. The jobless tally in the EU now stands at about 25 million.