The number of people unemployed in the euro zone fell in July for the second month in a row, adding to tentative signs that a modest recovery under way in the currency bloc's economy is starting to erode its sky-high levels of joblessness.
But a 15,000 decline in the number of people out of work wasn't enough to bring down the rate of unemployment, which remained at an all-time high of 12.1% for the fifth consecutive month, according to figures from Eurostat, the European Union's statistics agency, on Friday.
The glacial pace of improvement means any meaningful pickup in consumer spending is likely to be some way off, keeping the economic recovery that began in April in first gear.
The number of under-25s out of work rose in July, Eurostat said, underscoring the weak and unbalanced nature of the pickup in economic conditions.
The European Central Bank has said it anticipates a modest recovery will continue later this year, after official data showed the region exited an 18-month downturn in the second quarter with annualized growth of 1.1%.
The bank's president Mario Draghi has said he and colleagues on the bank's governing council expect to keep the main interest rate unchanged at a record-low 0.5%, or lower, for "an extended period of time."
Other data Friday suggested inflation won't be an impediment to the ECB maintaining an extremely loose stance on monetary policy.
Eurostat said the annual rate of consumer-price inflation fell to 1.3% in August from 1.6% in July, putting it considerably below the central bank's target area of a little below 2%.
The ECB will make its next policy announcement Sept. 5. The euro-zone economy returned to growth in the April-to-June period and recent surveys have suggested growth will continue in the third quarter.
The European Commission, the EU's executive arm, said Friday that a gauge of the mood among businesses and consumers rose in August to its highest level since March 2012.
The commission's figures showed increased confidence among consumers, as well as at factories, service providers, retailers and financial firms.
Construction companies became more gloomy. The improvement in the main confidence index "still points to roughly stagnant gross domestic product compared with a year earlier, suggesting that the recovery will be modest" in the 17 countries that use the euro, said Jennifer McKeown, economist at London-based consultancy Capital Economics.
"All in all, while a recovery seems to be under way, there is every reason for the central bank to remain in strongly accommodative mode for the foreseeable future," she said.
Difficulties facing the euro-zone economy aren't limitetsd to i record-high unemployment levels and still-subdued levels of confidence.
Public debt levels are rising despite years of austerity, pressing governments to continue belt- tightening measures that subdue growth prospects. Meanwhile, deep-rooted problems among the region's banks have stifled lending to businesses and households.
The uneven nature of the recovery--another issue for the region's policy makers--was underscored by Friday's data. Unemployment was concentrated among the region's younger workers, and in the southern countries most badly hit by the euro zone's long-running debt crisis.
Germany's jobless rate fell to 5.3% in July from 5.4% in June. In Greece in May-- the latest month that data are available for--the unemployment rate jumped to 27.6% from 27%, more than five times the German rate.
Confidence levels in August picked up most sharply in Germany and other countries such as the Netherlands and Austria that were relatively little harmed by the debt crisis, the European Commission's survey showed.
The confidence index rose less significantly in France, Italy and Spain, and deteriorated in Greece and Malta.
Friday's confidence data were better than had been expected, with economists in a Wall Street Journal poll having predicted a reading of 93.7 on aggregate. The inflation reading undercut forecasts for an annual rate of 1.4%.
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But a 15,000 decline in the number of people out of work wasn't enough to bring down the rate of unemployment, which remained at an all-time high of 12.1% for the fifth consecutive month, according to figures from Eurostat, the European Union's statistics agency, on Friday.
The glacial pace of improvement means any meaningful pickup in consumer spending is likely to be some way off, keeping the economic recovery that began in April in first gear.
The number of under-25s out of work rose in July, Eurostat said, underscoring the weak and unbalanced nature of the pickup in economic conditions.
The European Central Bank has said it anticipates a modest recovery will continue later this year, after official data showed the region exited an 18-month downturn in the second quarter with annualized growth of 1.1%.
The bank's president Mario Draghi has said he and colleagues on the bank's governing council expect to keep the main interest rate unchanged at a record-low 0.5%, or lower, for "an extended period of time."
Other data Friday suggested inflation won't be an impediment to the ECB maintaining an extremely loose stance on monetary policy.
Eurostat said the annual rate of consumer-price inflation fell to 1.3% in August from 1.6% in July, putting it considerably below the central bank's target area of a little below 2%.
The ECB will make its next policy announcement Sept. 5. The euro-zone economy returned to growth in the April-to-June period and recent surveys have suggested growth will continue in the third quarter.
The European Commission, the EU's executive arm, said Friday that a gauge of the mood among businesses and consumers rose in August to its highest level since March 2012.
The commission's figures showed increased confidence among consumers, as well as at factories, service providers, retailers and financial firms.
Construction companies became more gloomy. The improvement in the main confidence index "still points to roughly stagnant gross domestic product compared with a year earlier, suggesting that the recovery will be modest" in the 17 countries that use the euro, said Jennifer McKeown, economist at London-based consultancy Capital Economics.
"All in all, while a recovery seems to be under way, there is every reason for the central bank to remain in strongly accommodative mode for the foreseeable future," she said.
Difficulties facing the euro-zone economy aren't limitetsd to i record-high unemployment levels and still-subdued levels of confidence.
Public debt levels are rising despite years of austerity, pressing governments to continue belt- tightening measures that subdue growth prospects. Meanwhile, deep-rooted problems among the region's banks have stifled lending to businesses and households.
The uneven nature of the recovery--another issue for the region's policy makers--was underscored by Friday's data. Unemployment was concentrated among the region's younger workers, and in the southern countries most badly hit by the euro zone's long-running debt crisis.
Germany's jobless rate fell to 5.3% in July from 5.4% in June. In Greece in May-- the latest month that data are available for--the unemployment rate jumped to 27.6% from 27%, more than five times the German rate.
Confidence levels in August picked up most sharply in Germany and other countries such as the Netherlands and Austria that were relatively little harmed by the debt crisis, the European Commission's survey showed.
The confidence index rose less significantly in France, Italy and Spain, and deteriorated in Greece and Malta.
Friday's confidence data were better than had been expected, with economists in a Wall Street Journal poll having predicted a reading of 93.7 on aggregate. The inflation reading undercut forecasts for an annual rate of 1.4%.
nasdaq.com
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