Euro-Area Unemployment Rate Reaches 8.0% In December

Euro-area Unemployment Rate Actual 8.0%, Expected 7.9%, Previous 7.9% (Revised from 7.8%)

Release Explanation: Measures the number of jobs created, or the percentage of employed/unemployed in the labor market. Over time the Employment Data will affect all economic releases, it does however take time for labor trends to form.

Trade Desk Thoughts: The unemployment rate in the Euro-area continues to rise. The latest release, for the month of December, points out that the unemployment rate reached 8.0%, more than expected.

The unemployment rate for the month of November was revised higher, to 7.9%. About 12.472 million persons were unemployed in the Euro-area, up by 230K from one month earlier. From one year ago, the unemployment rate rose by 0.8%, or 1.4 million persons. Among the member states, the highest unemployment rate was observed in Spain, in November, 14.4%, up from 8.7% one year ago. The biggest monthly gain was seen in Latvia, 1.2% in the last month alone.

Forex Technical Reaction: The euro is trading just below TheLFB S1 (1.2850), after it fell 90 pips overnight. In the last three days, the euro plunged as the market was driven by risk aversion.

Unemployment