BRUSSELS: Unemployment in the eurozone hit a record high in October with more than 170,000 extra jobs lost and youth unemployment at almost 24 per cent as the economy slumped into recession, official data showed on Friday.

Year-on-year figures from the Eurostat data agency showed a particularly bleak picture for under 25-year-olds, with almost one in four out of work both in the 17-nation eurozone and 27-nation European Union – against one in five a year earlier.

Compared with October 2011, an extra 279,000 young people were out of work in the EU and 350,000 in the eurozone in October this year.

The youth unemployment rate rose to 23.9 per cent in the eurozone and to 23.4 per cent in the European Union compared with 21.2 per cent and 21.9 per cent a year earlier, Eurostat said.

But in Greece, 57 per cent of under 25s were jobless in August, the latest available figures, and in Spain 55.9 per cent in October.

Overall, the eurozone had a jobless rate of 11.7 per cent in October, up from 11.6 per cent in September, with the numbers out of work rising to 18.7 million from 18.49 million, the Eurostat data agency said.

The highest unemployment rate was recorded again in Spain, where 26.2 per cent of adults are out of work. Austria again posted the lowest rate of 4.3 per cent and benchmark Germany and the Netherlands were at 5.4 and 5.5 per cent respectively.

Across the 27-state EU single market of half a billion consumers, 25.92 million men and women were out of work.