European Unemployment Remains High

Even though the euro zone is seeing solid growth, the unemployment rate remains high. Indeed, even with overall growth in the euro zone, and an increase in confidence in the economy, things are not going well in terms of jobs.

Indeed, one of the issues is the disparity between countries in the euro zone. The Financial Times points out that Germany has an unemployment rate of 6.9%. However, the story is different for Spain:

By contrast, Spain’s unemployment rate nudged up to 20.3 per cent, the highest figure ever seen in a eurozone country since the single currency was introduced in 1999. In Spain, 41.5 per cent of young people are now looking for work, compared to 19.6 per cent across Europe.

This large disparity accounts for the fact that the euro zone unemployment rate remains high, even though it appears that economic progress is being made. However, most of the economic growth and progress, as one might expect, is coming out of Germany. It will be interesting to see how long Germany can carry the euro zone.