LONDON — Unemployment in the 17-country eurozone hit another record in May as the crippling financial crisis pushed the continent toward the brink of recession, official figures showed Monday.
Eurostat, the EU’s statistics office, said unemployment rose to 11.1 percent in May from 11 percent the previous month. May’s rate was the highest since the euro was launched in 1999 and adds urgency to the eurozone countries’ plan to create economic growth and cut government debt.
At a summit Friday, eurozone leaders agreed to a limited economic- growth package as well as measures to boost confidence in financial markets. Those include allowing Europe’s bailout fund to rescue banks directly, without adding to government debt, and not requesting painful new austerity measures in return for sovereign bailouts.
Investors cheered the summit’s outcome, triggering a stock-market rally.
