Eurozone unemployment trend deeply worrying

In Topic 9 of Reading and Understanding Economics I examine macroeconomic policy. This includes articles on unemployment, inflation and economic growth. In the introduction I explain that high employment is a key policy goal for many governments across the globe. Sadly the latest data from Spain shows that key parts of the European economy are suffering badly. Spain's unemployment rate has hit a staggering 20% for the first time in nearly 13 years.
The jobless rate in Spain has risen sharply during the economic downturn and is the highest in the eurozone. The latest data shows that the overall eurozone unemployment rate remained unchanged at 10% in March. This means some 16m people are unemployed across the eurozone. These figures show the real cost of the economic recession in terms of the impact on the eurozone labour market.