Eurozone unemployment rate steady in August, misses forecast
The unemployment rate in the eurozone was steady in August, according to the latest data from Eurostat.
The seasonally-adjusted rate came in at 9.1%, unchanged from July and missing expectations for it to tick down to 9.0%. Still, it remains the lowest rate recorded in the bloc since February 2009 and was down from 9.9% in August 2016.
The lowest unemployment rates were seen in Czech Republic, Germany and Malta, while the highest were observed in Greece and Spain.
In the EU-28 group of nations, the unemployment rate nudged down to 7.6% from 7.7% in July and 8.5% in August last year.
Claus Vistesen, chief eurozone economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, said: "We thought that a further decline was a lock in light of the decline in German unemployment, but a small rise in French joblessness offset the decline in Germany. Elsewhere, unemployment in Italy and Spain was unchanged. Divergence between the major economies is a key story, but GDP growth has improved across the board, which should push unemployment down gradually.
"The recent increase in French unemployment is odd in light of stronger GDP growth in first half of the year. We suspect it is in part due to rising uncertainty over new labour market reforms, or perhaps because the outlook for better employment conditions has prompted some people to re-enter the labour market, temporarily pushing up the unemployment rate. In any case, if the present economic momentum in France persists, unemployment will fall soon."
Capital Economics said the data "won’t deter the ECB from announcing later this month that it will taper its
asset purchases next year".
"But the only gradual recovery in the labour market suggests that the Bank will wait a long time before tightening policy with higher interest rates."