Euro zone unemployment slipped to its lowest level for nearly four years in October, official data showed today, beating analyst expectations and confirming a slow recovery in Europe's job market.
The European Union's Eurostat agency said unemployment in the euro zone fell to 10.7% in October from 10.8% in September, reaching the lowest level since January 2012.
Joblessness in the euro zone has gradually fallen from the 12.2% level reached at the height of the euro zone debt crisis in September 2013.
However, it still remains way above the near-7.5% level seen during the economic boom leading up to the financial meltdown in 2008.
As usual, the level of joblessness varied widely across the euro zone. The highest rate was in debt-stricken Greece, at 24.6% in August, the latest data available, but down from 24.9% a month earlier
Youth unemployment in Greece stood at 47.9% and at a still huge 47.7% in Spain.
The lowest rate overall in the bloc was in economic powerhouse Germany, unchanged at an ultra low 4.5%.
France, the euro zone's second biggest economy, was stable at 10.8%, considered high and a source of worry for economists.
For the whole euro zone, economists surveyed by the Factset data company had forecast no change in the jobless rate.
