Unemployment across the euro zone stuck resolutely at a rate of one in 10, European Union data covering the end of last year showed today.
Confirmation of an IMF forecast last week that it will take 'many years' for the jobs market in Europe and the US to recover despite growth returning to economies came despite a reduction in the numbers estimated out of work in December 2010.
Seasonally-adjusted figures for the 16 countries that shared the single currency until Estonia joined on January 1 showed that 15.775 million men and women were unemployed going into the festive season.
That marked a drop of around 73,000 from revised November data, but the rate remained the same at 10% and, compared to 12 months earlier, the number was up by 178,000.
Across the 27-nation EU, which also includes non-euro heavyweights in Britain and Poland, more than 23 million were out of work.
The figures from the Eurostat agency put the Netherlands at the top of the euro zone league table for the final three months of last year, with an unemployment rate of 4.3%, and Spain at the bottom, on 20.2%. Unsurprisingly, on an annual comparison, Germany was one of the best performers, Greece one of the worst.
The rates compare with 9.4% for the US, but just 4.9% for Japan in December.
A growth forecast of 2.5% in the world's advanced economies for 2011 and 2012 means unemployment is likely to remain stagnant for the next two years, IMF research chief Olivier Blanchard said last week in Johannesburg.
Inflation pressures in euro zone industry
A key indicator of euro zone manufacturing health today posted a record rise in raw materials costs with goods prices also rising at the fastest pace since the economic crisis began.
The final euro zone manufacturing purchasing managers' index produced by London-based researcher Markit hit a nine-month high of 57.3 in January, up from 57.1 in December and above the earlier flash estimate of 56.9. It has now remained above the flat 50, which indicates growth, for 16 months.
But a day after data showed euro zone annual inflation shooting up to 2.4%, cost inflation hit record highs in major markets Germany, Italy, Spain and Austria.
'Input prices rose at the steepest pace in the survey's history,' Markit chief economist Chris Williamson said, inflation here accelerating in all 17 countries covered.
These rises were largely attributed to higher prices for fuel, food and metals, notably steel and copper, and were passed on to customers with 'prices charged for goods rising at the fastest rate since the crisis' began, he underlined.
While employment picked up particularly in Germany, Austria and the Netherlands, further job losses were seen in Spain and Greece and the index sank to a six-month low in France.
However, Williamson also noted a 'reassuring improvement' in the currency area's under-pressure periphery, in Ireland and Italy in particular.
