Unemployment in the euro area in September amounted to the lowest ever recorded at 6.3%, according to the European Union Statistical Office. The August figure was revised from 6.4% to 6.3%. According to Trading Economics, analysts had expected unemployment last month to be 6.4%.
In September 2023, unemployment in the euro area was at 6.6%.
The number of unemployed in the region last month increased by 13 thousand compared to August, to 10.884 million. Youth unemployment (population under 25) rose to 14.4% from a revised 14.3% a month earlier.
The lowest unemployment rate among the largest eurozone countries was recorded in Germany (3.5%, the same as a month earlier), and the highest in Spain (11.2%, down 0.1 percentage point). In France, the unemployment rate increased by 0.1 percentage points to 7.6% in September, while in Italy it remained unchanged at 6.1%. Overall, in the European Union, unemployment last month amounted to 5.9%, the same as in August.
Unemployment in the eurozone was 6.4% in August, unchanged from the July level, according to the European Union Statistical Office. This is the lowest figure since the calculations were made. The data coincided with the consensus forecast of analysts cited by Trading Economics.
In August 2023, unemployment in the euro area was at 6.6%. The number of unemployed people in the region decreased by 95 thousand in the month before last compared to July, to 10.925 million. Youth unemployment (population under 25) fell to 14.1% from 14.2% a month earlier.
The lowest unemployment rate among the largest eurozone countries was recorded in Germany (3.5%, the same as in July), and the highest in Spain (11.3%, down 0.1 percentage point). In France, the unemployment rate remained unchanged at 7.5% in August, while in Italy it dropped to 6.2% from 6.4%.
Overall, in the European Union, unemployment fell to 5.9% last month from 6% in July.
Ukraine’s unemployment rate will decline to an average of 21.1% in 2023 from 21.1% in 2022, the National Bank said in its inflation report, explaining the improvement by revised methodology and positive trends in the labor market.
In its January report, it estimated unemployment in 2022 at 25.8% and expected it to rise slightly to 26.1% this year.
“In the absence of official statistics, assessing the impact of the war on the labor market, both in general and in terms of certain categories of the population and regions, is difficult and requires additional research methods, including the use of alternative sources of information. These are the data and survey results that allowed us to refine the unemployment estimate for 2022,” the NBU said.
He specified that based on such surveys, the average unemployment rate in 2022 is estimated at 19% to 23%. In addition, an improvement in the unemployment rate in the second half of 2022 was confirmed.
“Since the beginning of 2023, the labor market has been gradually recovering, but this process is still unstable… Since the beginning of 2023, the situation on the labor market has been improving. However, unemployment remains high and is becoming structural,” the NBU said.
It is noted that imbalances in the labor market will persist, the unemployment rate will remain higher than before the war, and real wage growth will be more restrained, but uneven by sector and region.
According to the published information, the recovery in the labor market was driven by an improved situation in the energy sector and a seasonal pickup in activity.
The NBU added that the burden per vacancy has increased and differs significantly between regions and professions. This is due to both changes in the structure of the economy as a result of the war and a large number of IDPs, and may indicate increased signs of structural unemployment. One of the reasons for structural unemployment is the difficulty of moving potential employees to a region where there is work in their specialty.
In terms of wages, the SSSU estimates that in 2022, thanks to the public sector, the average nominal wage increased by 5.9% (real wages decreased by 11.8%), which is better than the NBU’s previous estimates.
It is expected that real wages will grow by 3.7% on average in 2023, while nominal wages will grow by 21.9%, while in January the NBU estimated these figures at 3.3% and 25%, respectively.
As reported, the NBU improved its inflation forecast for this year to 14.8% from 18.7% compared to its January report. According to its estimates, inflation in annual terms will decline from 21.3% to 14.5% in the second quarter, after which it will fluctuate between 14.9 and 14.7% by the end of the first quarter of 2024.
Unemployment in 19 countries of the eurozone in August did not change compared to July and amounted to 6.6%, which is the lowest figure in the entire history of its calculation, according to the data of the Statistical Office of the European Union.
Analysts also predicted that the indicator would remain at the same level, according to Trading Economics.
By comparison, unemployment was 7.5% in August 2021.
The number of unemployed in the euro area last month amounted to 10.966 million people, having decreased by 30 thousand people over the month.
Youth unemployment (population under 25) dropped to 13.9% from 14% in July. The number of unemployed in this age category decreased by 17 thousand compared to the previous month, to 2.136 million people.
The highest unemployment rate among European countries was recorded in Spain (12.4%) and Greece (12.3%). The lowest unemployment rate was recorded in the Czech Republic (2.4%), Poland (2.6%) and Germany (3%).
In the European Union, unemployment remained at 6% in August (6.8% in August 2021). In total, 12.921 million unemployed people were registered in the bloc, which is 52 thousand less than in July.
Over the past week, there has been an increase in the number of new resumes posted on the website of the grc.ua recruitment portal by 69% and by 30% in the number of reviews for vacancies compared to the previous week, according to a press release from the portal.
“The labor market has recovered from a complete freeze and exists in the conditions of war. Ukrainians left without work as a result of the cessation of the functioning of their companies or due to moving to another region feel the need for a new job,” the report says.
At the same time, there are few vacancies that have opened since the start of the war, but they do exist. Most job offers are in retail trade. In order to provide the population with food and basic necessities, retailers are trying to keep their stores open. Salesmen and cashiers were also in demand specialists in peacetime. Now there are more job offers in retail trade than in other professional areas – 42% of all current vacancies in Ukraine.
Specialists in the field of transportation, logistics, warehouses and foreign economic activity (8% of all current vacancies) are in demand. There are not as many job offers in the field of information technology as in peacetime – only 7% of all relevant ones. There are also jobs in companies in the sectors of oil and gas (6%), business services (6%) and metallurgy and metalworking (5%).
The top ten industries with slightly more jobs than others also include extractive industry (4.3% of all vacancies), agriculture (4.1%), financial sector (3.4%), medicine pharmaceuticals, pharmacies (2.6%) and food (2.5%).
At the beginning of the war, many of the vacancies from the opening companies were on a volunteer basis. However, Ukrainians need not only work, but also wages.
If we analyze all the vacancies open today, then the average salary in them is UAH 26,900. The largest number of job offers (40%) with a salary of UAH 16,600, another quarter (26%) of vacancies indicated a salary of UAH 26,300. Almost a sixth of vacancies offer UAH 35,900 of monthly compensation. In 12% of the vacancy, the salary is from UAH 45,600. The highest salary from UAH 55,300 is offered in 6% of vacancies.
NUMBER OF UNEMPLOYED IN UKRAINE AND JOB OPPORTUNITIES, FEB 20 – MAY 21
