Eurozone unemployment up to 7.7%

The unemployment rate in the eurozone has risen to 7.7%, the highest level for two years, as the economic slowdown starts to take effect.

The figure for October, released by the EU’s statistics office, Eurostat, is up from 7.3% one year ago.

The lowest unemployment level among the 15 nations that use the euro was 2.5% in the Netherlands. The highest level was 12.8% in Spain.

Eurostat also said inflation for the eurozone fell to 2.1% in November.

Inflation in the eurozone was 3.2% in October, and November’s drop was due to falls in the price of food and energy.

EU unemployment

The unemployment rate for all 27 nations of the EU was 7.1% for November, compared with 6.9% a year earlier.

In the US the unemployment rate was 6.5% in October and was 4% in Japan.

Howard Archer, at IHS Global Insight, said that falling prices and rising unemployment means there was a “compelling case” for a one percentage point cut in eurozone interest rates when the European Central Bank meets next week.

Most analysts expect a cut of half a percentage point from the current level of 3.25%.