Eurozone Jobless Rate Falls Again In November

The euro area unemployment rate dropped again in November despite rising coronavirus cases, preliminary figures from the statistical office Eurostat revealed on Monday.

The jobless rate fell to a seasonally adjusted 7.2 percent, in line with expectations, from 7.3 percent in October.

Similarly, the unemployment rate in the EU27 eased to 6.5 percent from 6.7 percent a month ago.

The number of unemployed in the EU totaled 13.984 million persons in November, of whom 11.829 persons were in Eurozone, data showed.

Compared to the previous month, the jobless figure fell by 247,000 persons in the EU and by 222,000 in the euro area.

On a year-on-year basis, the unemployment total decreased by 1.659 million persons in the EU and by 1.411 million in the euro area.

The youth jobless rate, which applies to those under 25 years of age, fell to 15.5 percent in the euro area from 15.8 percent in the previous month. The corresponding rate for the EU eased to 15.4 percent from 15.6 percent.

Since November, Covid cases have shot up in Europe but the latest surveys (for December) point to employment continuing to rise, Jack Allen-Reynolds, an economist at Capital Economics, said.

Continued gains in employment might not put as much upward pressure on wages in the euro-zone as in the US, because in Europe there has not been a big decline in the workforce, the economist added.

Nevertheless, the economist said with the implied level of employment also above its pre-pandemic peak, firms are reporting that labor shortages are a constraint on production.

Data released by Italy’s statistical office on Monday showed that the jobless rate fell to 9.2 percent in November from 9.4 percent in October.

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