Eurozone unemployment fell to 8.8, best result since January 2009

The eurozone unemployment rate fell to 8.8 percent in October, from 8.9 percent in September. A year ago, the rate was 9.8 percent. The positive data come after the European Central Bank (ECB) announced it was starting to wind down the massive support it has given the 19-member currency zone to help it through the crises of recent years.

"This is the lowest rate recorded in the euro area since January 2009," the statement released by Eurostat read. "Eurostat estimates that 18.243 million men and women in the EU28, of whom 14.344 million [are] in the euro area, were unemployed in October 2017.

"Compared with September 2017, the number of persons unemployed decreased by 111,000 in the EU28 and by 88,000 in the euro area," Eurostat added.

Among the member states, the highest unemployment rates in October this year were recorded in Greece (20.6 percent in August 2017) and Spain (16.7 percent). The lowest unemployment rates were observed in the Czech Republic (2.7 percent), Malta (3.5 percent) and Germany (3.6 percent). The euro area consists of 19 EU member states using the single currency.

The ECB has taken extraordinary measures to push up growth and inflation in the eurozone in recent years, setting interest rates at historic lows, offering cheap loans for banks and buying up billions of euros of government and corporate bonds each month.
But as the eurozone economy has picked up, calls have grown for the ECB to begin unwinding its ultra-loose monetary policies, as the Federal Reserve is doing in the United States.
The Frankfurt-based bank edged in that direction last month, announcing it would halve its monthly asset purchases to 30 billion euros from January.