Unemployment rate across the 16-nation EuroZone climbed to an 11 year high during the month of November, and is most likely to rise even more for the current year, further adding to the instability of an economic recovery which is presently based solely on weak inventory rebuilding and exports.

As confirmed by the European Union's statistics office Eurostat, the number of unemployed people hiked by 102,000 for the month of November to 3.041 million, or 10% of the total workforce, which is the highest figure recorded since August 1998.

"We think that the unemployment rate will continue to rise until around the third quarter of this year before remaining at these higher levels through 2011. The upshot is that consumer spending will remain weak for a protracted period and that the overall economic recovery will be slow", said Nick Kounis, economist at Fortis Bank.

With the coming in of the final numbers, the European Union's statistics agency has confirmed its previous estimate that the EuroZone would be out of recession during the third quarter, with a
0.4% quarter-on-quarter growth, which has come after 5 consecutive quarters of declining output.