Unemployment in the eurozone held at 12% during November 2013.
Portugal’s rate was also stable at 15.5%, but a welcome fall from November 2012 when it was running at 17%.
At the same time, retail sales in the region grew significantly with a 1.4% increase. This was the greatest rise since November 2001, led by good sales of non-food products.
Here Portugal’s growth was the largest in the eurozone, with an increase of 3% over October. Other significant increases were experience in Luxembourg, France, and Spain.
Some analysts hold that both the unemployment and sales figures are in line with an economy beginning to recover, but warn that deflation could still develop and that in turn could aggravate governments’ debt woes.
The eurozone area had some 19.2 million people without jobs during November. The overall number is reported to have been steady since April, but an increase over the same time in 2012.
The worst jobless rate was in Greece (27.4%), followed by Spain (26.7%). The rapid rise of unemployment in Cyprus (17.3%) meant that it overtook Portugal, pushing Portugal down a notch into the fourth highest rate in the eurozone.
Portugal and Ireland were the two eurozone countries to experience the greatest improvements in the number of people finding work.
Youth unemployment remains a scourge, not budging from 24% for the region. Portugal’s rate has been climbing slowly up since the summer, reaching 36.8% in November. Nevertheless, this is down by 2% over November 2012.
