The European Union’s (EU) unemployment rate for October 2020 remained stable at 7.6 per cent, which was the same rate recorded for September 2020.

However, the unemployment rate in comparison to October 2019 was greater, as the out-turn for last year was 6.6 per cent.

Eurostat, the statistical office of the EU, reports that the Euro area seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate was 8.4 per cent in October 2020, 0.1 per cent down compared to September 2020 when the unemployment rate then was 8.5 per cent.

When compared with October 2019, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was higher, as the rate recorded then was 7.4 per cent. In the EU, there were approximately 16.24 million men and women deemed unemployed.

Of this number 13.825 million in the Euro area were unemployed in October 2020.

Relative to September 2020, the number of persons unemployed declined by 91-thousand in the EU and by 86,000 in the euro area.

Eurostat reports that when compared with October 2019, unemployment rose by 2.186 million in the EU and by 1.692 million in the Euro area.

YOUTH UNEMPLOYMENT

In October 2020, the number of unemployed young persons (under 25 years) amounted to about 3.115 million in the EU, of which approximately 2.551 million of the 3.115 million persons were in the Euro area.

Compared with the prior year, youth unemployment rose by 404,000 in the EU and increased by 319,000 in the Euro area.

According to Eurostat, “in October 2020, the youth unemployment rate was 17.5 per cent in the EU and 18.0 per cent in the Euro area, up from 17.4 per cent and 17.9 per cent respectively in the previous month”.

Additionally, compared with September 2020, youth unemployment rose by 46,000 in the EU and by 26,000 in the euro area.

UNEMPLOYMENT BY GENDER

In the Euro area unemployment rate for women decreased from 9.0 per cent in September to 8.9 per cent in October 2020, while in the EU unemployment for women as at October 2020 was 8.0 per cent, down from 8.1 per cent in September 2020.

The unemployment rate for men in EU as at October 2020 was stable at 7.2 per cent, when compared to the previous month of September 2020, while for the Euro area men unemployment rate remain stable at 8.0 per cent.

INFLATION STABLE

In the meantime, the Euro area annual inflation was stable at -0.3 per cent based on flash estimate by Eurostat. The largest contribution to the Euro area inflation rate in November 2020 is expected to come from food, alcohol and tobacco (1.9 per cent, relative to 2.0 per cent in October).

This was followed by services (0.6 per cent, relative to 0.4 per cent in October), non-energy industrial goods (-0.3 per cent, relative to -0.1 per cent in October) and energy (-8.4 per cent, relative to -8.2 per cent in October).