Eurozone unemployment remains at high

Unemployment is soaring in Europe’s euro currency bloc, with another two-million workers left without jobs in the past year.

The European Union reported Monday that more than 18 million workers were unemployed in the 17-nation currency union in August, the most since it first started keeping records in 1995. The eurozone jobless rate is 11.4 percent, substantially higher than for two of its economic competitors, with the United States at 8.1 percent and Japan at 4.1 percent.

Another seven-million workers were counted as jobless in the 10 other EU countries outside the eurozone. European Commission spokesman Jonathan Todd called the overall unemployment picture unacceptable.