Jobless rates hit highest levels since euro created

Joblessness in the eurozone hit on Tuesday its highest level since the single currency was born, a further sign of economic desperation as hopes erode that the bloc will be saved by its central bank this week.

An additional 123,000 people were out of work in the eurozone in June, figures from Eurostat showed, bringing the unemployment rate to a record high of 11.2 percent across the 17 countries that use the single currency.

The rate hides wide divergences, with unemployment as low as 4.5 percent in Austria and as high as 24.8 percent in Spain, where a shrinking economy makes it ever more difficult to pay off debt.