The euro zone unemployment rate fell by 0.1 point in November compared to October, to 6.4% of the working population, its lowest level on record despite a gloomy economic situation, according to data published on Tuesday by Eurostat. The indicator stood at the lowest level since the European Statistics Office began compiling this series, in April 1998, for countries having adopted the single European currency. Year-on-year, the unemployment rate fell by 0.2 points in November.
These figures show the resilience of the job market in the face of the decline in growth recorded last year. The euro zone saw its economy contract in the third quarter, weighed down by Germany’s difficulties and the rise in interest rates. Many analysts are counting on a further decline in gross domestic product (GDP) over the last three months of the year, synonymous with a technical recession.
For the European Union as a whole, the rate of unemployed people stood at 5.9% in November, also down 0.1 point over one month and 0.2 point over one year. Unemployment has fallen significantly in Europe since mid-2021, thanks to the strong post-Covid economic recovery which followed a historic recession. Despite a stagnation in economic activity in the euro zone from the end of 2022, fueled by the consequences of the war in Ukraine and the surge in inflation, it continued to decline before stabilizing since the spring at a level unprecedented in a quarter of a century.
7.3% in France
Some 12.95 million men and women were unemployed in November in the twenty-seven member states of the EU, including 10.97 million among the twenty countries sharing the single currency. The unemployment rate stands at 7.3% in France, as in October and September, compared to 3.1% in Germany, according to harmonized data from Eurostat. The lowest rates in the EU were recorded in the Czech Republic (2.4%), Malta (2.5%) and Poland (2.8%). The highest were recorded in Spain (11.9%) and Greece (9.4%).
Young people under 25 remain much more affected than the general population, with an unemployment rate of 14.5% in the entire EU and in the euro zone. This figure, however, fell by 0.3 points compared to October.