Eurozone unemployment rate nears nine-year low
Unemployment in the eurozone shrank modestly towards the end of last year, approaching a nine-year low as economic conditions in the bloc continue to improve.
The euro area unemployment rate in November fell to 8.7% from 8.8% the month before, as economists had predicted.
Marginal improvements across most of the major economies was the key to the fall, with joblessness in Germany reaching a new record low of 3.6%, and unemployment in France and Italy also down 0.1 percentage points to 9.2% and 11.0% respectively, but was unchanged in Spain at 16.7%.
Unemployment also fell in Ireland, the Netherlands and in Portugal.
"The decline in Eurozone unemployment extends a trend which began in 2013, and we think it will continue," said economists at Pantheon Macroeconomics.
"Unemployment and employment lags the business cycle by about two quarters in the Eurozone, pointing to further upbeat data in the first half of 2018."