Euro Area: Unemployment rate drops in November
Labor market conditions in the common currency block improved in November. The number of unemployed people decreased by 222,000, with the unemployment rate falling to 7.2% in November from 7.3% in October.
Looking at countries, 13 economies saw their unemployment rate decrease in November, including France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain. On the other hand, two economies saw their unemployment rate increase. Meanwhile, four economies saw a stable unemployment rate.
Disparities in the labor market among core and periphery countries persist. Spain (14.1%) and Greece (13.4%) are the economies with the highest unemployment rates. At the other end of the spectrum, the Netherlands (2.7%), Germany (3.2%) and Malta (3.5%) have the lowest unemployment rates.
Commenting on the release, Bert Colijn, senior economist at ING, stated:
“The outlook for unemployment remains quite bright. Continued declines over the coming months are likely, although the re-entry of people to the labour market could slow the pace over the course of 2022. Nevertheless, this job market strength is set to feed through to wage negotiations and adds to medium-term expectations of inflation of around 2%. The ECB will take note as it considers the next steps in policy normalisation after its recent announcement of reducing asset purchases.”