Eurozone jobless rate hits record 11.6 percent

Unemployment in the eurozone hit a record high in September with nearly 150,000 more jobs lost as the debt crisis continued to undermine an economy slumping into recession, official data showed on Wednesday. The 17-state eurozone had a jobless rate of 11.6 percent in September, up from 11.5 percent in August, with the numbers out of work rising to 18.49 million from 18.34 million, the Eurostat data agency said. The highest unemployment rate was recorded again in Spain, where 25.8 percent of adults are out of work, with Austria posting the lowest rate of 4.4 percent and benchmark Germany and the Netherlands each on 5.4 percent. Across the 27-state European Union single market of half a billion consumers, 25.75 million men and women were out of work.