By: Dr. Mike Campbell
The contradictory nature of the economics of 2012 took a turn for the worse when Eurostat, the European Union’s statistical body released its latest set of unemployment figures. The level of unemployment within the Eurozone stands at a new record of 10.9% - unemployment within the bloc is at its worst level since 1999.
Even Germany which had been adding jobs to the economy for the past six months reversed the trend and March saw unemployment rise in March to 6.8% from 6.7% in February.
Spain posted its eighth successive set of worsening unemployment data. Unemployment in Spain now stands at a record level of 24.4% of the workforce – meaning that 5.6 million citizens are now without work. The data was enough to knock 2.6% of the Madrid stock exchange sending it to its lowest close in 3 years. The total across the whole Eurozone is 17.4 million, to put Spain’s woes into perspective.
Italy also saw the numbers in work fall in March and now stands at its worst level in 12 years at 9.8% of the workforce idle. In contrast, Austria currently enjoys the best level of employment within the EU at just 4% of the workforce seeking employment at the moment. When the recovery truly kicks in (and bear in mind that a number of EU states have fallen back into recession), unemployment will fall as a lagging indicator of economic growth – it can’t come too soon.
The gloomy unemployment data sent all of Europe’s major stock markets to lower closes. The FTSE was off by 0.93%; the Dax by 0.75%; and the Cac 40 saw falls of 0.42%. Across the wider EU, unemployment stands at 10.2%. The Euro closed lower against Sterling (0.1%), the Dollar (0.6%) and the Yen.(0.5%).