Eurozone unemployment drops in October

As usual, in October the level of joblessness varied widely across the eurozone.

Germany’s unemployment rate unexpectedly dropped to a record low in a sign that robust domestic demand is bolstering confidence in the growth prospects for Europe’s largest economy.

Unemployment fell to 10.7% from 10.8%, leaving it at the lowest level since the end of 2011, during the midst of the crippling euro crisis. This is the lowest rate recorded in the euro area since January 2012.

That beat expectations of 10.8 per cent for October, the latest official statistics reveal. Compared to the previous year, unemployment fell 1.302 million.

The broader 28-country European Union’s unemployment figures for October were stable on the previous month’s at 9.3 percent. This was the lowest rate reported in the EU28 since September 2009.

The CSO graph above shows a steady decrease in the rate of unemployment here over the past three years.

The recovery in the labor market and the wider economy remains too weak to generate inflationary pressure.

The unemployment rate for November is unchanged from October, at 8.9%.

The decline is not expected to prevent the European Central Bank from injecting another dose of stimulus into the eurozone economy following its regular policy meeting on Thursday.

A drilldown into the figures show that some euro zone countries are faring far worse than others: In October the German jobless level dropped to 4.5 percent, while in Greece the figure is closer to one in four and in Spain it was one in five.

Manufacturing employment in the bloc rose for the fifteenth successive month in November, with the rate of jobs growth ticking to its highest since August. The PMI has remained above the no-change mark of 50.0 for 29 straight months.