Europe’s Workers See Living Costs Rise, but Pay Isn’t Keeping Pace

Europe’s unemployment rate has fallen below its pre-pandemic level, but a surge in wages this year doesn’t seem likely even though higher inflation has weakened workers’ spending power, according to economists and officials.

At 7.3%, the eurozone’s unemployment rate was below pre-pandemic levels in October, having hit a pandemic high of 8.6% in September 2020. The relatively small size of those swings, economists say, is largely because of furlough programs, in which governments essentially paid businesses to keep idled workers on as employees during the pandemic, rather than letting them go, by covering a large share of their wages.