European Statistical Recovery Dashboard: December edition

Today, Eurostat released the December edition of the interactive European Statistical Recovery Dashboard.

The dashboard contains monthly and quarterly indicators from a number of statistical areas relevant to tracking the economic and social recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, across countries and time.

December highlights: A mixed economic picture in the EU - Retail and service sectors grow amid easing inflation, while industrial output declines.

EU retail trade rose, while industrial production declined in October 2023, following stable GDP in Q3 2023. In September 2023, service sector production reached a new historic high. Although all these indicators remain above their pre-pandemic levels, GDP growth over the last four quarters present a rather flat trend, set against a backdrop of varying performances across sectors. While the service sector exhibits a significant upward trend, industrial production and retail trade show subdued momentum over an extended period. However, the recent upswing in retail trade, breaking a sequence of three consecutive months of decline, comes alongside the downward trajectory of inflation.

In this respect, there was a further decline in overall inflation in November 2023, reaching its lowest rate since August 2021. This decrease is primarily attributed to falling energy prices.

Simultaneously, labour market dynamics add another important layer to the EU economic picture. While the EU labour market maintained historically low unemployment levels in October 2023, this robust picture is nuanced by shifts in other labour market indicators. For the first time since Q1 2021, EU labour market slack showed a slight increase in Q3 2023, and there was a (marginal) decrease in the employment rate for the first time since Q2 2020.

EU economic sentiment mirrors these complex dynamics, continuing on an upward trajectory in November 2023, yet still remaining significantly below its pre-pandemic level. 

You can read the full analysis by clicking ‘Eurostat commentary’ on the dashboard’s header. 

The dashboard is updated every month with the latest available data for each indicator.

The line charts in the dashboard offer many functionalities to easily explore and analyse the development of the indicators, such as displaying a longer time series, comparing several countries and downloading the customised chart or the source dataset.