Eurozone Joblessness Remained Unchanged at Near-Lows in October

Unemployment in the eurozone remained at its recent low levels in October, demonstrating a robust jobs market despite a weakening economy.

The jobless rate stood at 6.5% in the 20-member currency union, keeping it barely changed since the start of the year at near-record lows, according to figures set out by European Union statistics agency Eurostat on Thursday. This was in line with the expectations of economists polled by The Wall Street Journal.

While the rate stayed unchanged, an extra 48,000 people were unemployed in total in the bloc compared with September, the figures show. Youth unemployment meanwhile ticked higher, hitting 14.9% from 14.6% a month earlier.

None of the bloc's major economies booked major changes in unemployment over the month. Germany, which has relatively low levels of unemployment, saw its rate stay at 3.1%, while France booked an unchanged 7.3% rate and in Spain, which has the bloc's highest rates of joblessness, the rate remained at 12.0%. In Italy, unemployment ticked up slightly to 7.8% from 7.6% a month earlier, Eurostat said.

A robust jobs market-and resultant wage growth-had been seen earlier in the year to be supporting sticky price inflation in the eurozone. But with services inflation now easing across the bloc, policymakers at the European Central Bank might be less concerned by the continued resilience of the jobs market.

Headline inflation dipped more than expected in the bloc in November, reaching 2.4%, according to Eurostat figures set out Thursday.