Eurozone unemployment rate unchanged in AugustOctober 1, 2013 - 14:13 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - Unemployment across the 17 European Union countries that use the euro held steady in August, official figures showed Tuesday, Oct 1, in another sign that the eurozone economy is stabilizing following its longest-ever recession, the Associated Press reports. Eurostat, the EU’s statistics office, said the unemployment rate was 12 percent in August, unchanged from the previous month and down modestly from the 12.1 percent peak recorded in the summer. In total, the number of unemployed dipped by 5,000 to 19.18 million. The improvement in the eurozone labor market has come in the wake of the region’s emergence from recession. The economy grew in the second quarter after contracting for six straight quarters and most surveys suggest it expanded further in the summer months. That view was supported by a closely-watched manufacturing survey Tuesday that suggested the sector continues to expand, albeit at a modest pace. The purchasing managers’ index — a gauge of business activity published by financial information company Markit — was at 51.1 points in September. Though down on August’s 26-month high of 51.4, the survey points to continuing expansion — anything above the 50 threshold indicates growth. Few economists think that the eurozone’s current economic growth is enough to significantly bring down unemployment, particularly among the young. The manufacturing PMI survey, for example, showed companies in the sector still expect modest job losses. “Unemployment looks set to fall only very gradually at best,” said Ben May, European economist at Capital Economics. The Eurostat figures mask huge divergences across the eurozone: While Germany has an unemployment rate of 5.2 percent, Greece and Spain have over a quarter of their workforce out of a job. The situation among the young — that is, potential workers under the age of 25 — is even more acute. Greece and Spain, for example, have over half their youth unemployed. In Greece, where the latest figures available were for June, youth unemployment stood at a stunning 61.5 percent. Related links: Top stories Yerevan has dismissed Turkey’s demand to shut down the Armenian nuclear power plant as “inappropriate”. Armenia will loan 2.9 billion drams to Nagorno Karabakh (Artsakh), according to a draft government decision. The Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of Azerbaijan has “strongly condemned” Armenia’s decision. Kerobyan has said that for the first time in the history of Armenia, the volume of foreign direct investments amounted to about $1 billion. Partner news | Mirzoyan says meeting with Bayramov was “constructive” At the moment, Ararat Mirzoyan said, there is no basis for additional comments. OSCE vows support for Armenia “in all three directions of security” Achieving stable peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan remains a priority of the OSCE, said Ian Borg. 151 detained as civil disobedience campaigns continue in Yerevan Citizens have been blocking streets in the Armenian capital, demanding Nikol Pashinyan’s resignation. France welcomes Armenia-Azerbaijan meeting in Almaty France has welcomed the new round of negotiations between the foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan. |