Eurozone unemployment rate nudges down in December

The Eurozone unemployment rate fell to a seasonally-adjusted 10.4% in December, down from 10.5% in November and 11.4% the same month in 2014, data from Eurostat showed.

This marked the lowest rate since 2011 and beat economists’ expectations for an unchanged reading of 10.5%.

The number of people unemployed fell by 49,000 from November to 16.75m. For 2015 as a whole, the number of unemployed people was down 1.5m.

The lowest unemployment rates in December were recorded in the Czech Republic and Germany, both at 4.5%, with Malta and the UK following close behind.

The highest unemployment rates, however, were seen in Greece and Spain.

"The marked overall drop in Eurozone unemployment through to December, together with ongoing negligible inflation should be supportive to consumer spending, which will hopefully allow it to play a key role in sustaining reasonable growth," said Howard Archer, chief European and UK economist at IHS Global Insight.