The Greek crisis is on a back-burner whilst the Greeks prepare for a fresh general election in a little under three weeks. Unless the far-left and other parties vehemently opposed to the economic and legislative reforms that the creditors demand prevail, it is likely that the Euro will be sailing calmer waters for a while, at least, with a return to “mainstream” Greek politics. Of course, the Greek electorate is not beyond surprising conventional wisdom, but with banking restrictions in place and Eurozone patience at breaking point, they must know that they have Hobson’s choice.
In the interim, whilst the storm clouds of slowing Chinese growth gather and stock markets around devalue, better news has emerged on the employment situation within the Eurozone – remember that employment is part of the real economy and reflects the perception that demand for goods and service either has, or shortly will have, increased.
Data just released from Eurostat show that unemployment within the bloc has eased to 10.9% of the workforce in July. This represents a reduction of 0.2% from the June figure and represents the best figure seen since February 2012. Within the wider EU’s 28 nations, unemployment dropped to 9.5% which is the best figure since 2011.
Unsurprisingly, due to the different economic situations prevailing within the bloc, Eurozone unemployment remains very patchy with just 4.7% of Germans out of work compared to 25% of Greeks and 22.2% of Spaniards (data from May).
Youth unemployment across the bloc declined from 22.3% in June to 21.9% in July. For the purposes of Eurostat a “youth” is anybody seeking employment between the ages of school leaver and 25.
The fact that the Eurozone manufacturing purchasing manager’s index has remained above the 50 point level for the last two years should indicate that the pick-up in Eurozone employment will be sustained – it currently stands at a value of 52.3.