LONDON — Unemployment in the euro zone reached its highest level in almost 15 years in February, with more than 17 million people out of work, according to figures released Monday.
Joblessness in the 17-nation currency zone rose to 10.8 percent, up by 0.1 point from January, Eurostat said Monday.
“We expect it to go higher, to reach 11 percent by the end of the year,” said Raphael Brun-Aguerre, an economist at JPMorgan in London.
“You have public sector job cuts, income going down, weak consumption. The economic growth outlook is negative and is going to worsen unemployment.”
February’s level — last reached in June 1997 — marked the 10th straight monthly rise and contrasts sharply with the United States, where the economy has been adding jobs since late last year.
In the European Union as a whole, Eurostat said, unemployment stood at 10.2 percent of the working population, or some 24.5 million people, rising from 10.1 percent in January
Economists are divided over the wisdom of European governments’ drive to bring down deficits even as economic troubles weaken tax revenues, consumers’ spending power and business confidence.
Separate data released Monday showed manufacturing activity in the euro zone shrank for an eighth successive month in March, providing further support for Brussels’s forecast that euro zone output will shrink 0.3 percent this year.
Despite the gloomy economic vista, the European Central Bank is expected to hold interest rates at 1 percent at its monthly meeting Thursday, as rising oil prices keep inflation above the bank’s 2 percent target.
“With inflation remaining stubbornly high throughout the euro zone, there is very little hope of a consumer recovery,” said Jennifer McKeown, an economist at Capital Markets.
Discussions among E.C.B. board members are further complicated by a melting away of more optimistic forecasts made at the start of the year. Even in the bloc’s biggest economy, Germany, sentiment in the manufacturing and construction sectors fell in March.
Despite that, the divide between the euro zone’s wealthy north and depressed south was again clear on the unemployment front. Years of runaway lending, outdated labor laws and uncompetitive industry in the south have sucked the region into a painful slump.
The jobless rate in Germany was steady at 5.7 percent of the working population in February, while unemployment in southern Europe rose from already high levels.
The rate reached almost 24 percent in Spain, the highest in the European Union, and 9.3 percent in Italy.
nytimes.com
Joblessness in the 17-nation currency zone rose to 10.8 percent, up by 0.1 point from January, Eurostat said Monday.
“We expect it to go higher, to reach 11 percent by the end of the year,” said Raphael Brun-Aguerre, an economist at JPMorgan in London.
“You have public sector job cuts, income going down, weak consumption. The economic growth outlook is negative and is going to worsen unemployment.”
February’s level — last reached in June 1997 — marked the 10th straight monthly rise and contrasts sharply with the United States, where the economy has been adding jobs since late last year.
In the European Union as a whole, Eurostat said, unemployment stood at 10.2 percent of the working population, or some 24.5 million people, rising from 10.1 percent in January
Economists are divided over the wisdom of European governments’ drive to bring down deficits even as economic troubles weaken tax revenues, consumers’ spending power and business confidence.
Separate data released Monday showed manufacturing activity in the euro zone shrank for an eighth successive month in March, providing further support for Brussels’s forecast that euro zone output will shrink 0.3 percent this year.
Despite the gloomy economic vista, the European Central Bank is expected to hold interest rates at 1 percent at its monthly meeting Thursday, as rising oil prices keep inflation above the bank’s 2 percent target.
“With inflation remaining stubbornly high throughout the euro zone, there is very little hope of a consumer recovery,” said Jennifer McKeown, an economist at Capital Markets.
Discussions among E.C.B. board members are further complicated by a melting away of more optimistic forecasts made at the start of the year. Even in the bloc’s biggest economy, Germany, sentiment in the manufacturing and construction sectors fell in March.
Despite that, the divide between the euro zone’s wealthy north and depressed south was again clear on the unemployment front. Years of runaway lending, outdated labor laws and uncompetitive industry in the south have sucked the region into a painful slump.
The jobless rate in Germany was steady at 5.7 percent of the working population in February, while unemployment in southern Europe rose from already high levels.
The rate reached almost 24 percent in Spain, the highest in the European Union, and 9.3 percent in Italy.
nytimes.com
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