EUROZONE unemployment was stable for the second consecutive month in May at 11.6 percent, official data showed Tuesday, underlining that the recovery in the bloc is far from strong enough to spur solid job creation in all countries.

    Around 18.5 million people were without a job in May in the 18 countries sharing the euro, although that was 28,000 fewer than in April, the EU’s statistics office Eurostat said.

    “A mild recovery continues but it is still leaving many people behind,” European Commissioner for Employment Laszlo Andor said.

    “We can only really speak of a proper recovery when Europe’s economy creates new jobs in the hundreds of thousands every month on a sustained basis,” Andor said, adding that member countries need to take further action to support job creation.

    Joblessness in the single currency area, which remains close to the record high of 12 percent seen last year, is expected to fall very slowly from current levels to 11.4 percent next year, the European Commission said.

    Joblessness, differing widely across the eurozone, has been stuck at almost 19 million people for the past few months and shows the impact of the worst financial crisis in a generation.

    While twice bailed-out Greece and Spain struggle with unemployment at above 25 percent, the bloc’s growth engine Germany has an unemployment level of 5.1 percent. Austria, with 4.7 percent, has the lowest unemployment in the eurozone.(SD-Agencies)