Eurozone unemployment edges down for 15th month running

This was the lowest since September 2011.

The Euro area unemployment rate fell to 10.4% in December 2015, down from 10.5% in November 2015, and from 11.4% in December 2014. Youth unemployment dropped from 14.4% in 2012 to 12.6%, thanks to the Youth Guarantee. Compared with December 2014, unemployment fell by 2.026 million in the EU28 and by 1.501 million in the euro area.

Jennifer McKeown, Capital Economics analyst, welcomed the improvement, but said a slowing global economy could reverse any progress. Recent signs of softening in broader economic activity present a downside risk to future labor market developments. The unemployment rate is the number of people unemployed as a percentage of the labor force. In the same period of 2014, the rate was 23 percent.

An unemployed person is defined by Eurostat, according to the guidelines of the International Labour Organization, as someone aged 15 to 74 without work during the reference week, who is available to start work within the next two weeks and who has actively sought employment at some time during the last four weeks.

On the other hand, data from the Federal Labor Agency showed that the German unemployment rate declined to a record low in January.

The overall numbers continue to mask big disparities.

Year-on-year, retail sales rose 1.4% in December after a 1.6% gain in November, which was revised from 1.4%. Although Italy may still be dragging on the rest of the region, Germany’s jobless rate has hit a 20-year low. This was the lowest since November 2012.

In the full 28-member European Union, the unemployment rate was unchanged at 9% in December.

Prices at factory gates in the euro zone fell by more than expected in December, in another sign of the challenges facing the European Central Bank in bringing inflation nearer to its medium-term target. Producer prices, which measure the cost of goods and materials for companies, were down 0.8 percent in December, way more than the 0.2 percent drop recorded in the previous month.