Eurozone unemployment fell for a third month in December, while the number of young people out of work in the region also dropped.
There were just over 19 million unemployed people in the eurozone last month, 129,000 fewer than in November, according to Eurostat, the region's statistics office. It was the biggest monthly drop since April 2007.
The jobless rate was unchanged at 12% for a third month, in line with economists' expectations. Youth unemployment fell by 23,000 to 3.53 million, with the youth jobless rate falling to 23.8% from 24% in November.
Howard Archer, chief UK and European economist for IHS Global Insight, said: "While we remain sceptical that a decisive turnaround in eurozone labour markets has started, it really does now look like they have stabilised overall after prolonged weakness."
There were some large country variations, with the lowest rates of unemployment in Austria, at 4.9%, and Germany, at 5.1%. The highest jobless rates were 27.8% in Greece – where the latest available data is from October – and 25.8% in Spain.
They have been two of the countries worst hit by the financial crisis, and more than half of young people in both countries are out of work. The falling unemployment in the eurozone reflects hopes the worst of the economic crisis is over, but risks remain.
The eurozone is out of recession, but gross domestic product rose by just 0.1% in the third quarter of 2013, following a 0.3% increase in the second quarter. France is teetering on the brink of another recession, while Italy has remained in recession for nine quarters.
Fourth-quarter GDP figures will be published on 14 February. Policymakers are becoming increasingly concerned about the risk of deflation, with the latest data showing inflation fell to 0.7% in January from 0.8% in December.
Archer said it was worrying news for the European Central Bank, and increased the likelihood of a further cut in interest rates. "While the ECB remains adamant that overall deflation is unlikely in the eurozone, it will be extremely uncomfortable with consumer price inflation coming back down," he said.
theguardian.com
There were just over 19 million unemployed people in the eurozone last month, 129,000 fewer than in November, according to Eurostat, the region's statistics office. It was the biggest monthly drop since April 2007.
The jobless rate was unchanged at 12% for a third month, in line with economists' expectations. Youth unemployment fell by 23,000 to 3.53 million, with the youth jobless rate falling to 23.8% from 24% in November.
Howard Archer, chief UK and European economist for IHS Global Insight, said: "While we remain sceptical that a decisive turnaround in eurozone labour markets has started, it really does now look like they have stabilised overall after prolonged weakness."
There were some large country variations, with the lowest rates of unemployment in Austria, at 4.9%, and Germany, at 5.1%. The highest jobless rates were 27.8% in Greece – where the latest available data is from October – and 25.8% in Spain.
They have been two of the countries worst hit by the financial crisis, and more than half of young people in both countries are out of work. The falling unemployment in the eurozone reflects hopes the worst of the economic crisis is over, but risks remain.
The eurozone is out of recession, but gross domestic product rose by just 0.1% in the third quarter of 2013, following a 0.3% increase in the second quarter. France is teetering on the brink of another recession, while Italy has remained in recession for nine quarters.
Fourth-quarter GDP figures will be published on 14 February. Policymakers are becoming increasingly concerned about the risk of deflation, with the latest data showing inflation fell to 0.7% in January from 0.8% in December.
Archer said it was worrying news for the European Central Bank, and increased the likelihood of a further cut in interest rates. "While the ECB remains adamant that overall deflation is unlikely in the eurozone, it will be extremely uncomfortable with consumer price inflation coming back down," he said.
theguardian.com
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