Euro zone unemployment was unchanged in February in comparison with an upwardly revised studying for January, information confirmed on Tuesday, as European furlough schemes restricted the affect of the second wave of the pandemic within the fourth quarter on jobs.
The European Union’s statistics workplace Eurostat mentioned the jobless fee within the 19 international locations sharing the euro was 8.3% in February, unchanged from the revised information for January.
“The unemployment fee now reveals a tiny second wave impact as January is now reported to have seen a small tick up in unemployment from 8.2 to eight.3%,” mentioned Bert Colijn, euro zone economist at ING financial institution.
“Whereas the curve has modified a bit, it hardly modifications the image. Given the contraction in exercise and the lengthy closures of sure sectors, the second wave labour market affect stays delicate,” he mentioned.
Eurostat numbers confirmed the variety of individuals with out jobs within the euro zone in February rose to 13.571 from 13.523 in January.
“How the labour market performs when the financial rebound begins stays a giant query. A fast bounce again is unlikely given how employment normally recovers from a recession but in addition as a result of furlough schemes nonetheless have to be wound down,” he mentioned.
Supply: Reuters (Reporting by Jan Strupczewski)