FRANKFURT (Reuters) -The euro zone unemployment rate held at a record low in June, providing further evidence that the bloc remains resilient to the fallout of the global trade war and continues to grow, even if slowly, data from Eurostat showed on Thursday.
The jobless rate of the 20 nations sharing the euro held steady at 6.2% in June after the May figure was revised down to 6.2% from 6.3%, Eurostat said. In the broader European Union, the jobless rate was unchanged at 5.9%.
There were 10.70 million people out of work in the euro area, down from 10.76 million a month earlier and 10.99 million a year ago, Eurostat added.
Economic growth was expected to falter in the second quarter and the jobless rate was seen ticking up as the economy suffered from uncertainty relating to tariffs and the bloc’s future trade relationship with the U.S., one of its top export markets.
However, growth held up better than feared and key business surveys suggest that the bloc is managing the uncertainty, with domestic consumption keeping growth going and manufacturing recovering from a multi-year recession.
The bloc has also benefited from a string of interest rate cuts as the ECB halved its key rate to 2% in the year to June, giving construction and business investment a boost.
But this resilience is a key reason why a growing number of investors think the ECB is done cutting rates and markets see a less than 50% chance of another move this year.
(Reporting by Balazs Koranyi; editing by Philippa Fletcher)
