Unemployment stands at 6.6% for the euro area and 6.1% among the member countries, which is equal to the levels of October and November. Spain marks the maximum in this evolution after registering an increase in its unemployment figures in the month of December, which places the country at 13.1%, which is the highest figure in international comparison. Along the same lines, France has seen the number of unemployed people grow by one tenth at the end of the year, with 7.1% unemployed, while Germany has reduced it by the same proportion to 2.9%.
These data show that the 27 are resistant to the inflation that has plagued the entire period of 2022 as a consequence of the war in Ukraine and has recorded historical lows since the implementation of the currency. 7.4% Unemployment is eight tenths below pre-pandemic levels This guideline is also true for Spain, despite its slight increase, since then the proportion of unemployed was 13.6%.
Youth unemployment grows in the EU with Spain in the lead
The statistical office points out that the number of unemployed grew by 28,000 people in the European Union, while in the euro zone it did so by 23,000. In total, Eurostat estimates that more than 13.140 million people were unemployed in the last month of 2022, of which more than 11 million belonged to the euro zone. The data for young people is negative again, since unemployment among those under 25 years of age rose from 14.8% to 15% in December among the member states, which account for more than 2.86 million. Another month, Spain leads the list of youth unemployment reached 29.6%, followed by Greece (28.9%) and Italy (22.6).
At a general level, Spain also leads the sad ranking with 13.1%, with a difference of almost two points with respect to Greece (11.6%) and five with Italy (7.8%). On the contrary, the Central European countries gather the best employment data, with the Czech Republic, which barely has 2.3% unemployment, and Germany with 2.9%. Along the same lines, the unemployment problem in Poland has a reduced scope despite inflation and is equal to the German figure.
Employment resists inflation
In addition, Eurostat has revised upwards the unemployment data for November advanced on January 9, which translates into an increase from 6% to 6.1% and that the new data for December equals. These data are a reason for celebration on the continent after an arduous search for alternatives to Russian gas that has turned into a general price increase. In addition, the price of food has had a special impact, which, in addition to the energy issue, has been influenced by the lack of cereals and fertilizers supplied by the countries in conflict.
The resistance of unemployment has been accompanied by the moderation of inflation, which has stood at 8.5%, just before the meeting of the European Central Bank (ECB) that will take place this Thursday. However, the data must be ‘taken with tweezers’ given that the price increase has not taken into account the evolution in Olaf Scholz’s Germany. The statistical office has pointed to a technical problem of “data processing”, while this country is the one that has the most weight in this statistic.
