BRUSSELS: The joblessness in the eurozone has decreased to its lowest level for three and a half years in July.
According to the official data, unemployment in the 19-nation bloc fell to 10.9 percent in July from 11.1 percent in June, the first time it has dipped below 11 percent since February 2012, the EU statistics agency Eurostat said. However youth unemployment was at a still high 21.9 percent.
As usual, the level of joblessness varied widely across the eurozone, but the sharp fall will boost hope that Europe is emerging from its prolonged debt crisis.
However, analysts cautioned that any improvement in the jobs market remained modest and came after disappointing second quarter economic growth data. “We do not expect the eurozone’s labour market recovery to gain much pace in the coming months,” said Jessica Hinds, European economist at Capital Economics.
“The employment components of survey indicators… only nudged up in August and remain consistent with pretty weak annual employment growth in the near term,” she said.
In contrast to the fall in joblessness eurozone-wide, unemployment rose in France to 10.4 percent, in Austria to 5.8 percent and Finland to 9.7 percent.
The highest rate was in debt-stricken Greece, at 25 percent in May, the latest data available, but down from 25.6 percent a month earlier.
Youth unemployment in Greece stood at 51.8 percent and at a still huge 48.6 percent in Spain, another country struggling to reignite job creation after the crisis. The lowest rate in the bloc was in powerhouse Germany, unchanged at 4.7 percent.
