Eurozone Unemployment Hits Record High

Unemployment rates are dropping in the U.S., but things are not looking so good over in Europe, where deep austerity cuts have severely hurt many countries in the eurozone. According to employment numbers released Friday by the EU’s statistics agency, Eurostat, unemployment across the 17 eurozone countries has hit 16.4 million, or 10.3 percent—a new record since the establishment of the eurozone. Spain had the highest rate of unemployment, with 22.9 percent out of work, but Greece—the country whose austerity measures vote took down their own government and threatened to drown the whole EU—was not far behind with 18.8 percent. Germany remained the strongman of Europe, with its unemployment actually declining from 9.1 percent to 8.1 percent.