Eurozone unemployment holds steady at 8-year low in March

Unemployment in the eurozone was steady in March, holding at its lowest level in more than eight years, according to data from Eurostat.

The unemployment rate came in at 9.5%, the same rate as February but down from 10.2% in March 2016. This was above economists' expectations for a tick down to 9.4% but marked the lowest recorded rate in the euro bloc since April 2009.

In the EU-28 group of nations, the unemployment rate was 8% in March, down from 8.1% the month before and 8.7% in the same month last year. This remains the lowest recorded rate since January 2009.

On the month, the number of people unemployed fell by 56,000 in the EU-28 and by 5,000 in the eurozone. Compared with March last year, unemployment fell by 1.647 million in the EU28 and by 991,000 in the euro area.

The lowest unemployment rates in March were seen in the Czech Republic, Germany and Malta, while Greece and Spain recorded the highest rate.

Capital Economics said that even though the downward trend in the eurozone unemployment rate paused in March, it still points to some pick-up in annual wages growth from the fourth quarter's 1.7%.

"But given remaining spare capacity in the labour market, the increase is likely to be modest," it said.

It added that the country breakdown was "far from reassuring".

"Granted, the German rate remained at a historic low of 3.9%. But while the unemployment rate was also flat in France at 10.1%, that was only because the previous three months’ outturns were revised up from 10%, suggesting that the labour market recovery there is even weaker than previously indicated. And the unemployment rate rose in Italy."