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Jinny Yan, an economist at Standard Chartered Bank, says the jobless figures are staggering
The rate of unemployment in the eurozone hit a record high of 12% in February, official figures have shown.
The number of people unemployed in the 17 member states rose by 33,000 during the month, to hit 19.07 million, the statistics agency Eurostat said.
The highest rate was 26.4% in Greece, although the most recent figure for the country was from December.
Separately, figures confirmed a deterioration in the eurozone's manufacturing sector in March.
'Underlying weakness'The jobless figures from Eurostat also showed that Spain's unemployment rate hit 26.3% in February, while the rate in Portugal remained stable at 17.5%.
The lowest rates were recorded in Austria (4.8%) and Germany (5.4%), both unchanged from January. The overall unemployment rate for the eurozone in January was revised up from 11.9% to 12%.
Across the 27 member states of the European Union, the unemployment rate rose to 10.9%, up from 10.8% the previous month.
The fresh high in the unemployment rate "is further confirmation of the underlying weakness of the economy", said Jennifer McKeown at Capital Economics.
"The rise in unemployment was the 22nd in a row, making this labour market downturn the most prolonged since the early 1990s."
'Disappointing picture'There was further gloomy news from the eurozone's manufacturing sector, as a survey indicated that manufacturing activity fell to a three-month low in March.
- Greece 26.4%
- Spain 26.3%
- Portugal 17.5%
- Italy 11.6%
- France 10.8%
- Germany 5.4%
- Austria 4.8%
- US 7.7%
- Japan 4.2%
- UK 7.7%
Source: Eurostat
The final Markit eurozone manufacturing purchasing managers' index (PMI) for March fell to 46.8, slightly higher than an initial estimate but below the 47.9 recorded in February. Any score below 50 indicates a contraction in the sector.
Germany and the Republic of Ireland both fell back below 50, while the rate of decline accelerated in all other eurozone countries apart from France.
The survey indicated that output and new orders fell across the eurozone, while job losses increased.
"The surveys paint a very disappointing picture across the region," said Markit's chief economist Chris Williamson.
"The manufacturing sector looks likely to have acted as a drag on the economy in the first quarter, with an acceleration in the rate of decline in March raising the risk that the downturn may also intensify in the second quarter."
The eurozone economy is currently in recession, having contracted for the past three consecutive quarters. Some economists expect to see a further contraction in the first three months of this year when growth estimates are published by Eurostat on 15 May, with a slow return to moderate growth expected later in the year.
Analysts say that with many governments cutting back on spending and raising taxes as they struggle to control high deficits and rising debt levels, the short-term economic outlook remains bleak.
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