Eurostat announced today that unemployment in the euro area reached a record 12.1 percent in April. That’s not spread evenly, of course: unemployment was a mere 5.4 percent in Germany and a whopping 27 percent in Spain and Greece. Nor was it spread evenly across generations. Youth unemployment reached a staggering 24 percent overall, and was over 50 percent in Greece and Spain.
Let me repeat that: in Greece and Spain, more than half of those under age 25 didn’t have jobs. This is pretty plainly a recipe for disaster.
In other news, Eurostat also announced that inflation in the euro area had dropped from 2.6 percent a year ago to 1.2 percent in April. So I guess austerity is working. It sure has kept inflation from spiraling out of control, anyway.
