Eurozone area unemployment rate edges down to 7.0%

According to Eurostat, the European Union’s statistical office, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in the eurozone fell to 7.0 percent in December from 7.1 percent in November. Year on year, eurozone unemployment was lower than the 8.2 percent recorded in December 2020.

Eurostat also reported that the EU-wide unemployment rate fell to 6.4 percent in December, down from 6.5 percent in November. In December of last year, the EU unemployment rate was 7.5 percent. Eurostat estimates that 13.6 million men and women in the EU were unemployed in December, with 11.5% in the eurozone. Compared to December 2020, unemployment in the euro fell by 1.8 million and in the EU by 2.2 million.

In both the eurozone and the EU, the youth unemployment rate was 14.9 percent in December 2021. It is a decrease from November’s figures of 15.4 percent in the euro and 15.3 percent in the EU. According to Eurostat data, the unemployment rate for women in the euro fell to 7.3 percent in December from 7.5 percent in November. Men’s unemployment in the eurozone fell to 6.7 percent in December, down from 6.8 percent in November.

Women’s unemployment in the EU was 6.6 percent in December, down from 6.2 percent in November. Men’s unemployment in the EU fell to 6.1 percent in December, from 6.2 percent in November.

Euro/USD

With the latest CPI figures providing a rare idiosyncratic push to the EUR and markets profiting on bullish USD positions, EUR/USD has remained entirely bid, with the pair eyeing the 1.1300 level. It is a level that may encounter some resistance and attract many sellers.

Today, markets will focus on US ADP employment figures, with the consensus predicting a significant slowdown (from 800,000 to 180,000) in January. The ability of ADP numbers to predict actual payroll figures is not very high, and markets are already expecting some fairly uninteresting NFP jobs data on Friday.