Eurozone Unemployment Rate Steady At Record Low 6.5%

Euro area jobless rate remained unchanged at a record low in November despite the economy moving closer to a recession, official data revealed Monday.

The jobless rate came in at 6.5 percent, as expected, unchanged from October, the statistical office Eurostat said. This was notably down from 7.1 percent in the same period last year.

The number of unemployed totaled 10.849 million in November, which was down 2,000 from the prior month. Compared to the previous year, unemployment decreased by 846,000 persons.

Meanwhile, the unemployment rate among young people aged below 25 rose slightly to 15.1 percent from 15.0 percent in October.

The overall unemployment rate in the EU27 also held steady in November, at 6.0 percent.

Last week, results of the latest Purchasing Managers’ survey from S&P Global showed that the Eurozone labor market remained resilient at the end of the year. Companies continued to expand their workforce, but the pace of job creation was near the 21-month low seen in November.

Elsewhere in the single currency bloc on Monday, the Sentix investor confidence survey results suggested that the euro area economy is likely to see a milder recession than previously estimated.

The investor sentiment index advanced to a seven-month high of -17.5 in January from -21.0 in December. This was better than economists’ forecast of -18.0.

Assessment of current situation as well as expectations strengthened for the third month in a row, but both sub components remained deep in the negative territory.

The current situation index rose to -19.3 from -20.0 in the previous month. At the same time, the expectations index rose more markedly to an 11-month high of -15.8 from -22.0 in December.

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