Eurozone unemployment falls in October
Eurozone unemployment slipped to its lowest level for nearly four years in October, official data showed on Tuesday, beating analyst expectations and confirming a slow recovery in Europe's job market.
The European Union's Eurostat agency said unemployment in the 19-country single currency bloc fell to 10.7 percent in October from 10.8 percent in September, reaching the lowest level since January 2012.
Joblessness in the eurozone has gradually fallen from the 12.2 percent level reached at the height of the eurozone debt crisis in September 2013.
However, it still remains way above the near-7.5 percent level seen during the economic boom leading up to the financial meltdown in 2008.
As usual, the level of joblessness varied widely across the eurozone. The highest rate was in debt-stricken Greece, at 24.6 percent in August, the latest data available, but down from 24.9 percent a month earlier.
Youth unemployment in Greece stood at 47.9 percent and at a still huge 47.7 percent in Spain.
The lowest rate overall in the bloc was in economic powerhouse Germany, unchanged at an ultra low 4.5 percent. France, the eurozone's second biggest economy, was stable at 10.8 percent, considered high and a source of worry for economists.
For the whole eurozone, economists surveyed by the Factset data company had forecast no change in the jobless rate.
[AFP]
