Youth unemployment in Greece, Italy is on the rise again official figures show.

The Mail — Youth unemployment in the single currency bloc is now 21.1 per cent, according to the statistics agency Eurostat.

The number of under-25s without work has risen from 47.3 per cent to 50.3 per cent in Greece and from 37.3 per cent to 39.2 per cent in Italy.

Three million who want a job cannot find work. Although youth unemployment fell in Spain, 43.9 per cent are still out of work. Unemployment for all ages in the eurozone is 16.3million – or 10.1 per cent of the workforce. That is more than double the 4.9 per cent jobless rate seen in the UK.

The bleak figures pile pressure on the European Central Bank to take further action. The bank has been printing £68 billion of money each month to pump cash into the economy and interest rates have been cut below zero with free loans offered to banks.

Laith Khalaf, senior analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: ‘Despite billions of euros being thrown at it, the eurozone economy is still not for turning.

David Buik, an analyst at stockbroker Panmure Gordon, said: ‘Double-digit unemployment is here to stay and will be exacerbated by draconian austerity measures. The youth can only tread a weary path of despondency.

‘The openings in business, industry and commerce are just not there.’

John Longworth, a former head of the British Chambers of Commerce said: ‘Europe continues to be the sick man of the world in terms of its torpid economic performance.’