Unemployment in the euro area grew again in March, supporting the obvious conclusion that a lack of stimulus, terribly high unemployment and the crippling of the financial and industrial sectors will keep pulling most countries in the region into an ever deeper recession.

Eurostat reports on the euro area unemployment rate:

The euro area (EA17) seasonally adjusted unemployment was 12.1% up from 12% in February The EU27 unemployment rate was 10.9%, stable compared with February. In both zones, rates have risen markedly compared with March 2012, when they were 11% and 10.3 % respectively.

It should be no surprise that Greece was at 27.2% (January), Spain at 26.7% in March and Portugal was at 17.5% last month. These numbers are awful, but they seem modest when youth unemployment is taken into account. The notion that there could be a “lost generation” economically, marked by lack of jobs and the inability to buy consumer goods and services, could well turn out to be accurate as people in their early twenties cannot find work. Based on current economic conditions, they will be unable to for years.

According to Eurostat:

In March 2013, the youth unemployment rate was 23.5 % in the EU27 and 24.0 % in the euro area, compared with 22.6% and 22.5 % respectively in March 2012.

In Greece, the figure in January was 59.1%, and in March the figure was 55.9% in Spain.