Unemployment in eurozone steady at 12%

Unemployment in the 17-member eurozone held steady at 12 percent in August, the region's statistical office said Tuesday. The jobless rate remained close to the record 12.1 percent from early this year. The unemployment rate in the overall European Union, which has 28 countries with the addition of Croatia in July, was also unchanged July to August, holding at 10.9 percent, the data agency said. The data office estimated that 19.1 million people in the eurozone and 26.6 million in the European Union were unemployed in August with the number of jobless close to steady in both regions. From a year earlier, however, the number of unemployed has risen by 882,000 in the EU and by 895,000 in the eurozone, the data office said. The lowest unemployment rate in Europe in August was posted by Austria at 4.9 percent. In the largest economy on the continent, Germany, the unemployment rate was a relatively low 5.2 percent in the month. The highest rates for the month were posted by Greece and Spain, where unemployment is at 27.9 percent and 26.2 percent, respectively. By comparison, the unemployment rate was 7.3 percent in the United States in August, down from 8.1 percent in August 2012. The current US unemployment rate is 7.1 percent.