Eurozone creating jobs faster than US
By Honor Mahony
Employment in Europe appears to be on the up with new jobs being created at a faster pace than in America.
"The eurozone is now creating jobs at a faster rate than the US," said Holger Schmieding, a European economist at Bank of America, on Monday (21 August).
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He suggests that employment is rising by 200,000 a month across the 12-country eurozone, reports Financial Times Deutschland.
Germany and France, both recording several consecutive months of a drop in their unemployment rate, are leading the way in the job boom.
According to the expert, their improved performance is the main reason for the acceleration in job creation in the eurozone.
At the end of last week, France published employment figures showing that 51,900 jobs were created between April and June, up 0.3 percent on the previous quarter, while the German statistical office registered similar growth.
"The improvement in the employment market will make the economy of the eurozone better able to withstand external shocks," said Mr Schmieding.
Mr Schmieding was critical of the lack of an overview of the job market in the EU as there is in the US.
"While US payrolls drive financial markets on the first Friday of each month, hardly anybody ever pays attention to employment in the eurozone, the second largest economy in the world. That's a pity", he said.
Figures published by the EU's statistical agency in mid-August showed that the eurozone had registered its biggest economic growth in six years.
But analysts have been reported as sceptical about how long the growth will last.
For its part, the European Commission has predicted a slowing of growth for the eurozone in the coming months forecasting 0.5% to 0.9% for the third quarter of 2006 and 0.4% to 0.9% for the fourth quarter and 0.2% to 0.8% for the first quarter of next year.