Investing.com - The euro zone’s unemployment rate fell to the lowest level in more than three years in July, adding to evidence that the European Central Bank's massive stimulus program was taking effect, official data showed on Tuesday.
In a report, Eurostat said that the euro zone’s unemployment rate declined to a seasonally adjusted 10.9% in July from 11.1% in June. This is the lowest rate recorded in the euro area since February 2012.
Analysts had expected the jobless rate to hold steady in July.
The data showed that among the member states, the lowest unemployment rates were recorded in Germany (4.7%) and the highest in Greece (25.0% in May 2015) and Spain (22.2%).
EUR/USD was trading at 1.1275 from around 1.1273 ahead of the release of the data, while EUR/GBP was at 0.7357 from 0.7351 earlier.
Meanwhile, European stock markets held on to steep losses. The EURO STOXX 50 dropped 2.9%, Germany's DAX slumped 2.9%, France’s CAC 40 declined 2.8%, while London’s FTSE 100 shed 2.6%.