Euro area annual inflation is expected to be 5.5% in June 2023, down from 6.1% in May according to a flash estimate from Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, on Wednesday 30 June.
Price rises are expected to be lowest in Luxembourg (1.0%), Spain (1.6%) and Belgium (1.6%), and highest in Slovakia (11.3%), Estonia (9.0%) and Croatia (8.3%). They should rise by 5.3% in France, 6.7% in Italy and 6.8% in Germany.
Looking at the main components of inflation in the euro area, food, alcohol & tobacco is expected to record the highest annual rate in June (11.7%, compared with 12.5% in May), followed by industrial goods excluding energy (5.5%, compared with 5.8% in May), services (5.4%, compared with 5.0% in May) and energy (-5.6%, compared with -1.8% in May).
Unemployment. Again according to Eurostat, unemployment in the euro area stood at 6.5% in May, i.e. just over 11 million people out of work, a stable figure compared with the rate recorded in April. In the European Union, the figure was 5.9%, or just under 13 million people, down on April (6.0%).
The unemployment rate is highest in Spain (12.7%) and Greece (10.8%), and lowest in the Czech Republic (2.4%) and Poland (2.7%). It stands at 2.9% in Germany, 7.0% in France and 7.6% in Italy.
In May, the unemployment rate for young people under 25 stood at 13.9% in the EU (or 2.7 million people) and in the euro area (2.2 million people), up and stable respectively compared to the rates of 13.8% and 13.9% recorded in the previous month in each of the two zones. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)