Eurozone Unemployment Continues to Grow

The euro traded steadily at $1.30 on Tuesday morning as cracks in the region's fragile economic system became more evident. The common currency has been trading steadily near $1.30 for the past week as the US dollar gains momentum due to speculation about the Federal Reserve's plans to roll back its stimulus plan. New data showed that eurozone inflation rose in June and added to growing worries about the bloc's future. Reuters reported that inflation rose from 1.4 percent in May to 1.6 percent. The rise is the second the region has experienced since hitting a low of 1.2 percent in April; but although growing inflation is a concern, the figure has remained below the European Central Bank's 2 percent target. Unemployment data showed that the region still has a long way to go before recovering, as the 12.1 percent figure indicated that the number of people without jobs was increasing beyond 19 million. At a summit last week, eurozone policy makers said they were committed to lowering that number and announced a new program which is intended to help young, out of work Europeans receive better training and support finding jobs. However, the 6 billion euro plan has been criticized as not doing enough to tackle the staggering youth unemployment in struggling nations like Greece and Spain where almost 60 percent of young people are jobless. Many are worried that that generation is likely to become restless and frustrated with the state of the economy, which could lead to problems as the eurozone tries to get back on track.