Eurozone unemployment remains above 10 percent in August despite stronger economic recovery

Eurozone unemployment still above 10 pct in Aug

BRUSSELS — Unemployment in the 16 countries that use the euro remained unchanged at 10.1 percent in August despite a stronger than anticipated economic recovery, official figures showed Friday.

Though the rate was unchanged, Eurostat, the EU’s statistics office, said the number of people out of work during the month fell by 20,000 to 15.87 million — that though may have more to do with seasonal factors than any underlying improvement in the labour market.

Austria had the lowest unemployment rate of 4.3 percent, while Spain had the highest at 20.5 percent.

The figures Friday provide further evidence that a bigger than expected economic rebound in the second quarter of the year has had little impact on the labor market — during the April to June quarter, the eurozone economy expanded by a quarterly rate of 1 percent largely on the back of a massive 2.2 percent increase in Germany.

The worry is that with austerity measures being enacted from Dublin to Athens, unemployment will start to edge higher over the months ahead.

For the wider 27-country EU, which includes non-euro members such as Britain, the unemployment rate in August was unchanged at 9.6 percent. Here again, the actual number of unemployed people decreased by 68,000 to 23.07 million.