By Joshua Kirby
Unemployment fell unexpectedly in the eurozone in November, defying expectations for a slight increase as the bloc’s labor market remains stubbornly tight.
Some 6.4% of eurozone workers were jobless over the month, figures from European Union statistics agency Eurostat showed Tuesday, falling from the 6.5% rate booked in the previous three months straight. Economists had expected the rate to rise a little, to 6.6%, according to a poll compiled by The Wall Street Journal ahead of the release.
A tight jobs market, with concurrent steady rise in average salaries, has been seen to keep services inflation high recently, and the lack of upsurge in unemployment may concern European Central Bank policymakers. Consumer-price inflation ticked higher in the bloc in December for the first time since last spring as services inflation remained static, though economists forecast it to ease ahead, and do not expect price rises to return to the peaks seen over the last couple of years.
Of the 20-member currency bloc’s major economies, none saw any major swings in joblessness in November. Germany and France booked steady rates at 3.1% and 7.3%, respectively, while Spain–which has long held the eurozone’s highest rates of unemployment–booked a slightly lower level at 11.9%, as did Italy, at 7.5%.
A total 10.97 million people were jobless in November across the bloc, around 100,000 fewer than a month earlier.
Write to Joshua Kirby at joshua.kirby@wsj.com; @joshualeokirby
