Manufacturing Slows in Euro Area; Unemployment at 9.9%

Arthi Gupta
01 Jul, 2011
New York City

Euro area jobless rate remained flat at 9.9% in May and manufacturing growth slowed in June. French passenger car sales dropped in June. Danish retail sales fell but Italian jobless rate increased to 8.1% in May.

[R]2:15 PM Frankfurt – Euro area jobless rate remained flat at 9.9% in May and manufacturing growth slowed in June. French passenger car sales dropped in June. Danish retail sales fell but Italian jobless rate increased to 8.1% in May.[/R]

Euro-zone Manufacturing Growth Slumps

Euro-zone manufacturing growth slowed to an 18-month low in June as estimated initially, Markit Economics said today.

The final Markit Manufacturing Purchasing Managers'' Index fell to 52 in June from 54.6 in May and unchanged from the earlier flash estimate.

German Manufacturing Activity Slows

Germany''s manufacturing activity continued to grow at slower pace in June, data from a survey conducted by Markit Economics and the German Association for Materials Management showed today.

The headline Markit/BME purchasing managers'' index for the manufacturing sector declined for the second straight month to 54.6 in June from 57.7 in May.

French Manufacturing PMI Slips

The headline seasonally adjusted purchasing managers'' index for France dropped to 52.5 in June from 54.9 in May, latest report from Markit Economics showed.

Spanish Manufacturing Activity Shrinks

Spanish manufacturing activity contracted again in June, a monthly survey carried out by Markit Economics showed.

The Purchasing Managers'' Index for manufacturing fell to 47.3 in June, the lowest since January 2010, from 48.2 in May.

Hungary''s Factory Growth Quickens

The seasonally adjusted manufacturing Purchasing Managers'' Index for Hungary rose to 54.4 in June from a revised 52.4 in May, the Hungarian Association of Logistics, Purchasing and Inventory Management said.

French Passenger Car Sales Drop

Sales of passenger cars in France declined 12.6% annually to 210,236 in June, data released by car makers'' association CCFA showed today. Adjusted for working days, car sales dropped 3.9% in June.

Danish Retail Sales Down

Retail sales in Denmark dropped 1% on a monthly basis in May after gaining 0.7% in April, data released by Statistics Denmark showed today. Sales of food products declined 0.7% on a monthly basis.

Annually, retail sales fell 2.4% in May, following an 8.1% rise in April.

Euro-zone Unemployment Flat

Euro-zone seasonally adjusted jobless rate remained stable at 9.9% in May, data from Eurostat, the statistics office of the European Union said today.

Compared with April, the number of persons unemployed increased by 16,000 in the euro area. On a yearly comparison, unemployment decreased 551,000 in May.

The jobless rate in EU27 was 9.3% in May, unchanged compared with April.

Italy Jobless Rate Up

Italy''s jobless rate increased to 8.1% in May from 8% in April, data released by statistics office Istat showed. In May 2010, the unemployment rate was 8.6%.

Unemployment among youth, aged between 15 and 24, was 28.9% in May.

Italy''s unemployment rate dropped to 8.6% in the first quarter, from 9.1% in the corresponding period last year. Unemployment among youth rose to 29.6% from 28.8% last year.

Norwegian Unemployment Steady

Norway''s jobless rate remained unchanged at 2.5% in June, data released by Norwegian Labor and Welfare Organization showed.

Unemployment among youth, aged between 20 and 24, was 4.2% and the number of unemployed persons decreased 9% from last year to 65,487 in June.