Euro zone unemployment fell to its lowest level in more than four years in December, official data showed today, beating forecasts from analysts worried about the global economic outlook.
The Eurostat statistics agency said unemployment in the euro zone dropped to 10.4% in December from 10.5% in November, its lowest rate since September 2011.
Analysts had expected the December figure to be unchanged at 10.5%, taking into account the sharp slowdown in China and the huge turmoil on global financial markets.
They said the report was encouraging but still not enough to suggest the economy was back on track and the European Central Bank will have to continue its massive stimulus programme.
By headcount, there were some 16.75 million jobless in the euro zone in December, down 49,000 from November and 1.5 million less compared with December 2014.
Greece and Spain continued to have the highest jobless rates, at 24.5% and 20.8%, while economic powerhouse Germany was on 4.5%.
This compared with 10.2% in France where the economy continues to struggle.
A calculation method used by the German authorities resulted in an unemployment rate for Germany in December of 6.3%, data showed today.
Euro zone unemployment hit a record 12.2% in September 2013 as the damaging euro zone debt crisis peaked out.
The improvement since then has been painfully slow despite the ECB's stimulus, with the economy still well short of the 7.5% jobless rate seen before the 2007-08 financial crash.
In the full 28-member European Union, the unemployment rate was unchanged at 9% in December.
Analysts said the report suggested continued subdued improvement but with the caveat that a slowing global economy could reverse that trend.
Meanwhile, new figures from the Central Statistics Office show that the Irish seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for January was 8.6%, down from 8.8% the previous month.
Euro zone factory prices add to ECB headache
Prices at factory gates in the euro zone fell by more than expected in December, in another sign of the challenges facing the European Central Bank in bringing inflation nearer to its medium-term target.
Producer prices fell by 0.8% in December, compared with the previous month and by 3% compared to the same time a year ago, the European Union's statistics office Eurostat said today.
This was below the average expectations in a Reuters poll of 13 economists which forecast prices to drop by 0.6% and 2.8% respectively.
European Central Bank President Mario Draghi has promised to increase inflation, rejecting criticism of the ECB's loose monetary policy and arguing that sluggish growth in prices was damaging the euro zone economy.
The ECB's mandate is to keep inflation just under 2% a year.
