Republic leads euro-zone states with drop in retail sales

Euro-zone retail sales fell far more sharply than expected in January as shuttered stores due to coronavirus restrictions and muted winter sales suppressed consumer spending except for food and online. The Republic was among the locations showing the biggest drops in activity.

European Union statistics agency Eurostat said on Thursday that retail sales were down 5.9 per cent month on month in January and by 6.4 per cent year on year. That compared with the average forecast declines in a Refinitiv poll of 1.1 per cent and 1.2 per cent respectively.

Sales for food, drink and tobacco rose by 1.1 per cent in the month, but for non-food products except automotive fuel they dropped by 12 per cent, while online sales were up 7.1 per cent.

The steepest declines were in Austria, Ireland and Slovakia, with sales drops of more than 10 per cent.

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Baby number two? ‘This is all getting a bit Angela’s Ashes,’ my husband said

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Unemployment

In a separate release, Eurostat also said that the seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate was unchanged in January at 8.1 per cent. Overall, the number of people unemployed increased by 8,000 to 13.28 million.

A year earlier, the rate was 7.4 per cent. The unemployment has not climbed so sharply during the pandemic because of furlough schemes that keep people in a job even when businesses are shuttered. – Reuters