"The economy is still too weak to bring fundamental change to the unemployment rate. Growth needs to pick up and we need to see structural reforms in a number of countries to achieve significant improvement."
- Annamaria Grimaldi, an economist at Intesa Sanpaolo SpA
It seems that the Eurozone economy has finally stabilized. One of the main reasons behind this bold suggestion is the fact the steep decline in the number of people working in the 17-nation bloc has finally come to an end. Figures released Friday showed employment levels remained unchanged in the six months to September. While this reading came in line with analysts' forecasts, there was a potential for some improvements, and Friday's data is reinforcing concerns that the ongoing recovery will still have to filter through to the labour market. On a yearly basis employment shrank 0.8%, following a 1.1% drop in the previous quarter.
The labour market in the 9.5 trillion economy is ravaged by the longest-ever recession and the situation is likely to improve only next year, as growth slowly picks up. The jobless rate in the Eurozone slid to 12.1% in October from a record-high of 12.2% a month earlier, while in the broader EU the same indicator remained unchanged at 10.9%. Despite obvious improvement, the number of people at work fell 0.8% from the third quarter of 2012 and the disparity between countries is high. While the participation rate in Europe's powerhouse inched higher 0.6%, Greece's labour market contracted by 2.9%.
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