New data from Eurostat revealed a decline in the eurozone's unemployment rate to 6.4% in November, marking the lowest level since the inception of the euro. This unexpected

drop of 0.1 percentage points from October defied economists' projections.

The overall unemployment rate across the EU also saw a decrease, down to 5.9% in November from 6.0% in October. However, youth unemployment remained at 14.5% in both the EU and the eurozone.

Eurostat's report highlighted that in November of the previous year, 12.954 million individuals were unemployed in the EU, with 10.970 million of them in the 20 eurozone countries. This decrease in unemployment amounted to 144,000 in the EU and 99,000 in the eurozone compared to October 2023.

Spain (11.9%) and Greece (9.4%) recorded the highest unemployment rates, while the Czech Republic (2.4%) and Malta (2.5%) reported the lowest. Belgium's unemployment rate stood at 5.6%.

Concerns persist within the bloc regarding the declining working-age population, aged 15 to 64. The European Commission recently addressed this issue, indicating the need for 1 million migrants annually to offset this decline. Presently, approximately 3.5 million migrants legally enter the EU each year.

The Commission's publication outlined a projection: without migration, the EU's working population could dwindle to 238 million by 2060, a stark 25% drop compared to 2014. Moreover, Eurostat estimates that the EU's labor force will diminish even more rapidly than the overall population.

Ylva Johansson, Home Affairs commissioner, highlighted the concerning trend, stating that the EU's working-age population is decreasing by 1 million annually. "This implies that legal migration should ideally grow by 1 million a year. Managing this in an orderly manner presents a significant challenge." Photo by Phil Whitehouse, Wikimedia commons.