Antonio Calanni / AP
A woman begs for money amid passersby in downtown Milan, Italy, on Jan. 8. Unemployment in the 17 EU countries that use the euro rose to 11.8 percent in November, as the number of jobless people in the region rose to 18.8 million, the highest figure since the single currency was founded in 1999.
Marcelo del Pozo / Reuters
Jose Manuel Abel, 46, smokes a cigarette as he waits to catch a flight to Munich at El Prat airport in Barcelona, on June 29. A former salesman, Abel has been unemployed for more than two years. He has decided to leave his family and move to Germany to work in a Spanish restaurant. His family hopes to join him if his wife can find a job. Abel arrived in Munich with 250 euros ($307) in his pocket.
Reuters reports -- Seville based photographer Marcelo del Pozo follows unemployed Jose Manuel Abel, 46, as he travels to Germany to try to start a new working life with only 250 euros ($307) in his pocket. Abel, who is from southern Spain, is one of a growing number of Spaniards moving to Germany for work after failing to find a job at home.
Marcelo del Pozo / Reuters
Jose Manuel Abel, 46, embraces his daughter Claudia, 13, between his wife Oliva Santos, 45, and son Jose Manuel, 16, in Chipiona, Spain, on June 29.
Marcelo del Pozo / Reuters
Jose Manuel Abel, 46, sits next to German language classmate Pilar Garcia, 40, in Chipiona, on June 28.
A former salesman during Spain's boom years, he has been unemployed for more than two years. Abel sees few prospects of working at home and has taken a job in Munich working in the kitchen of a Spanish restaurant owned by a Spanish-German friend of his. Abel sees no option to start earning again other than leaving his home country - even if it means living apart from his wife and two teenaged children.
Marcelo del Pozo / Reuters
Jose Manuel Abel, 46, cries as he waits to catch a flight to Munich at El Prat airport in Barcelona, on June 29.
Marcelo del Pozo / Reuters
Jose Manuel Abel, 46, walks in an underground station in Munich, on June 30.
Photographer Marcelo del Pozo, writes on the Reuters' Photographers Blog:
It’s five o’clock in the morning and I find myself in a place and situation that I’m sure I shouldn’t be in, much less taking pictures. Jose Manuel Abel, his wife Olive and their two children, Claudia, 13, and Jose Manuel, 16, were crying and hugging one another as they didn’t know when would be the next time they would see each other.
The family have already lost the home they bought in 1999 because they couldn’t keep up with the mortgage payments. Abel’s hopes of starting a new life in Germany are high: after all, his parents emigrated to Frankfurt at the start of the 1960s when he was two and they lived there until he was seven. History is repeating itself as Abel arrives in Munich with 250 euros in his pocket. One day he wants to find a job for his wife and take his family there.
Marcelo del Pozo / Reuters
Jose Manuel Abel, 46, makes his bed in a hostel during his first day in Munich, on June 29.
Marcelo del Pozo / Reuters
Jose Manuel Abel, 46, washes a paella pan while working as a kitchen assistant in Munich, on July 2.
Marcelo del Pozo / Reuters
Jose Manuel Abel, 46, signs a receipt for his salary as a kitchen assistant in Munich, on July 2.
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Yannis Behrakis / Reuters
Manolis Ouranos, a 30-year-old cook, works for the Mavros Gatos (Black Cat) tavern in Psiri neighboorhood in central Athens. Manolis studied at Athens Technology University (TEI) for four years where he received a degree in civil engineering. He hoped to find a permanent job in public sector infrastructure but has been working as a cook for four months instead. He now takes cooking lessons which he funds with his salary as a cook.
Nearly 75 million people ages 15 to 24 are unemployed worldwide and the U.N. labor office predicts “the same high level” for at least the next four years.
For eager university graduates in the crisis-hit European Union where one in five people under the age of 24 are out of work, finding a job is almost impossible. However, the problem isn’t confined to the EU. It’s a global problem and the U.N. expects 12.7 percent of youth globally to be unemployed in 2012. The International Labour Organisation also warns that many are trapped in low paid and low skilled jobs and others have simply given up looking.
In order to illustrate the problem, Reuters photographed portraits of graduates from around the world who have been unable to find work in their degrees and have ended up in service industry jobs.
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Alessandro Bianchi / Reuters
Francesca Baldi, 32, takes care of a seven-month-old baby in a private household in Rome on May 11. Baldi studied for five years at university in Pisa where she received a degree and a doctorate in literature and philosophy. She hoped to find a job as a teacher but has been working as a childminder for five months.
Lucy Nicholson / Reuters
Jessica Mazza, a 28 year-old waitress, serves a customer at Novel cafe in Santa Monica, Calif. Mazza studied for five years at Ball State University where she received a degree in painting and business management. She hoped to find a job as an artist but has been working in the cafe for just under a year. Picture taken, April 24.
Noor Khamis / Reuters
Denis Onyango Olang (right), a 26 year-old assistant cook, prepares food in a dimly lit kitchen at a hotel in Nairobi's Kibera slum in the Kenyan capital. Onyango Olang studied statistics and chemistry at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology where he received a degree in science. He has been searching for permanent employment for two years but has decided to make a living working in the slums for the last eight months.
Miguel Vidal / Reuters
Tania Leon, a 29 year-old stewardess, poses for a picture inside a bus in Santiago de Compostela, Spain. Leon studied psychology at the University of Santiago de Compostela and received a degree in 2006. She was hoping to find a job as a psychologist but has been working as a stewardess for the last two years.
Dado Ruvic / Reuters
Almin Dzafic, a 30 year-old waiter, serves customers in the Galerija Boris Smoje cafe in Sarajevo. Dzafic studied for four years at Sarajevo University where he received a degree in civil engineering. For the last four years he has tried to find a job in art restoration but has been working as a waiter for two years. He sees his future outside of Bosnia and Herzegovina because he can not find a job.
Amr Abdallah Dalsh / Reuters
Wael Abo El Saoud, a 25 year-old farmer, harvests wheat on Miet Radie farm about 37 miles northeast of Cairo. Wael studied for four years at Benha University where he received a degree in commerce. He hoped to find a job as a bank accountant but has been working as a farmer for the last five years. He earns between 30 to 60 Egypt pounds a day but does not work all year round.
Alessandro Bianchi / Reuters
Francesco Foglia, 37, poses for a picture as he works as a street sweeper in downtown Rome. Foggia studied for six years at university in Rome where he received a degree and a doctorate in industrial chemistry. He hoped to find a job as a researcher but has been working as a street sweeper for Rome's municipality for two years. Picture taken on April 29.
Peter Andrews / Reuters
Marcin Lubowicki, a 28 year-old deputy manager of a McDonald's restaurant, shows his university diploma in front of the fast food chain in the Arkadia shopping mall, in Warsaw. Lubowicki, who has degree in Russian language from Warsaw University, has been working for McDonald's since 2007. He is planning to stay in his job.
Eric Carpenter / The Orange County Register via AP
Nine workers fanned out along the Lincoln Avenue overpass of the 57 freeway in Anaheim, Calif., Wednesday.
Eric Carpenter / The Orange County Register via AP
Rand Christensen, an out-of-work editor from Anaheim, stands in silent protest above the 57 freeway on Wednesday in Anaheim, Calif.The workers wanted to bring attention to the fact that so many people in Orange County and across the country are willing to work but having trouble finding jobs.
See more images in PhotoBlog related to the US economy.
Dominique Faget / AFP - Getty Images
This combo picture made on Wednesday shows living statues depecting an Apache Indian, a sand man, Elvis Presley, a matador, the invisible man, the newspaper man, a bronze sweeper and Charlie Chaplin near the Puerta del Sol square. Since the beginning of the economic crisis in Spain, the number of living statues has increased in Madrid. Spain has the highest unemployment rate in the industrialised world, with 24.44 percent of the workforce idle, according to the national statistics office Ine.
Mario Anzuoni / Reuters
Kelly Edwards, 54, who was laid off 4 years ago, holds a sign at a street corner in Pasadena, California April 25, 2012. Edwards has resorted to handing out resumes at street corners and accepting money from strangers to provide for his family.
Slightly fewer Americans filed for unemployment benefits in the latest week, but a more accurate gauge of labor market trends -- the four-week moving average -- deteriorated, raising further worries about the recovery.
The Labor Department reported that seasonally adjusted jobless claims slipped by 1,000 to 388,000 in the week ended April 21. The four-week moving average, however, rose by 6,250 to 381,750.
Both claims' gauges remain below 400,000, at least for now, but have been edging closer to a number that economists believe is a crucial signpost for the health of the job market.
-- msnbc.com staff and news wires
Squawk Box host Andrew Ross Sorkin and his twins, Henry and Max Sorkin, along with CNBC's Rick Santelli and Steve Liesman break down the latest numbers on jobless claims and what it indicates about the U.S. economic recovery.
Jason Getz / Atlanta Journal Constitution via AP
Rep. Donna Sheldon, center, throws paper into the air next to Thomas Allison after the House Majority Leader, Rep. Larry O'Neal yelled, "Sine Die," to end the 2012 Legislative Session at the stroke of midnight on Legislative Day 40 at the Capitol Thursday afternoon in Atlanta, Ga., March 29, 2012. Allison is the son of Rep. Stephen Allison, who sits next to Sheldon.
The Atlanta Journal Constitution reports: Two of the most contentious issues of this year's General Assembly passed on the last day of this year's session, salvaged by Republican leaders who wanted to tout them as major victories this election year.
New restrictions on late-term abortions in Georgia, which had appeared dead in the morning, and a bill that would cut unemployment benefits for Georgians, passed with just minutes remaining in the 2012 session.
The work to get them passed highlighted a more-than-14-hour day, one full of compromises that dominated much of lawmakers' work. Full story.
Justin Sullivan / Getty Images
A job seeker fills out a registration form as he waits to enter the HIREvent job fair at the Hotel Whitcomb on March 27 in San Francisco. Employers at the event were hoping to fill over 400 entry level and management job openings.
The jobless rate has dropped to 8.3 percent from 9.1 percent since last summer, a move Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has said is "somewhat out of sync" with the rather modest pace of economic growth.
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Rajesh Kumar Singh / AP
A police officer checks forms as unemployed Indian women crowd at the Employment Exchange Office (EEO) in Allahabad, India, on Feb. 29, 2012. The state government office offers job placements to the registered unemployed applicants when positions become available.
Arturo Rodriguez / AP
Azucena Paredes, an unemployed mother of three children, cries during her eviction in Madrid on Friday, Nov. 18, 2011. As in many European countries, Spanish mortgages are not like US-style ones in which defaulters can return the keys to the bank and walk away from their debt, albeit with their credit rating in ruins. Here, mortgage holders not only have to give the house back, but also pay off bank debt. If they cannot, upon their death it is passed on to their relatives.
Arturo Rodriguez / AP
Police officers are seen through peephole of Azucena Paredes's home, an unemployed mother of three children, before her eviction in Madrid, Friday on Nov. 18, 2011.
According to polls, it is widely expected that Spain's elections on Sunday will welcome the center-right People's Party taking over the current seven-year-old Socialist government. Many challenges face the new government, which will be taking over a country in the throws of economic distress, with unemployment rates at 21.5%. But before the Spanish see improvements, they will likely see things worsen.
AP reports:
The task facing the PP will be to assure markets that Spain will continue to do everything to meet its pledges to shrink the deficit.
But a much deeper reform of the labor market, which the PP plans, and even tougher cuts needed to meet deficit targets in the year ahead, will help push the economy into recession, and send the 21.5 percent unemployment rate higher in the short-term.
"The first half of the year will be hard because they will have to cut brutally. It will be the hardest we've seen in the crisis," said Pablo Vazquez, director of economic think-tank FEDEA.
For the complete story: Spain recession more likely on new austerity.
Arturo Rodriguez / AP
Azucena Paredes' grandmother Tomasa Morcillo, 87, picks up her personal belongings as she and her family are evicted in Madrid, Friday on Nov. 18, 2011.
Arturo Rodriguez / AP
A protester is removed by police officers during a protest to stop the eviction of Azucena Paredes, an unemployed mother of three children, in Madrid on Friday, Nov. 18, 2011.
msnbc.com reports:
WASHINGTON — Calling it an "urgent time for our country," President Barack Obama asked Congress to "stop the political circus" Thursday night and approve a nearly half-trillion-dollar plan to help the economy by cutting payroll taxes, raising taxes on the wealthy and rewarding companies that hire new workers.
"We continue to face an economic crisis that has left millions of our neighbors jobless and a political crisis that has made things worse," Obama said in an address to a joint session of Congress.
Saul Loeb / AFP - Getty Images
US President Barack Obama takes the podium before addressing a Joint Session of Congress on Sept. 8, on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. Obama laid out a jobs plan before the US Congress that includes middle class tax cuts, infrastructure spending, help for the unemployed and the passage of trade deals designed to boost US exports.
Spencer Platt / Getty Images
Fred Kuehne searches for a job at the Suffolk County One Stop Employment Center on Sept. 8 in Hauppauge, New York. President Barack Obama will address Congress and the nation tonight on his plan for job growth in America. With unemployment still above 9 percent across the nation, job growth has become the center piece to the administration.
Pedro Acosta / AP
Demonstrators sit in an abandoned couch after spending the night at Sol square during a protest in Madrid, Spain on May 27. Thousands of Spaniards have mounted a protest camp in the heart of the Spanish capital to express anger at political parties and the country's handling of the economic crisis.
The AP reports:
Spain's young people face a dark outlook. The jobless rate in the under-25 age bracket makes the national unemployment rate of 21.3 percent seem mild by comparison. Widen the bracket to the age of 29 and the rate is still a stunning 35 percent.
To voice their discontent, young people have been coordinating over the past two weeks via social media like Twitter and Facebook to set up huge camps in city centers. The camp in Madrid features makeshift clinics and libraries with grungy sofas as well as stands with donated apples and bananas, juice and baguette sandwiches.
"More than anything, this is about being fed up. We are absolutely fed up," said Maria Martinez, 32, sitting in a lounge chair under blue sheeting protecting the Madrid camp from a blazing midday sun.
"I am the first one to acknowledge we have reacted late and we have been asleep for a long time," Martinez said.
Read the full story on the background to the protests in Spain.
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