Eurozone retail sales leapt in November even though unemployment remained at a record high, hinting at a pick-up in consumer demand that would ease deflation worries and relieve pressure on the ECB to loosen policy.

Data yesterday showed the biggest monthly jump for 12 years in retail sales, a proxy for household demand that has been weakened across the bloc by high rates of unemployment.

The improvement came even though record joblessness persisted, with 12.1 per cent of the bloc’s labour force out of work for the eighth month in a row in November.

Data on Tuesday had shown a surprise drop in eurozone inflation to 0.8 per cent in December, well below the European Central Bank’s target of just under two per cent. It was the third month in a row in which the reading was below one per cent, a level the ECB, which holds its monthly monetary policy meeting today, considers a danger zone for deflation.

“Today’s eurozone data releases provide some ammunition for the hawks on the ECB’s governing council in making the case against further easing measures at the ECB policy meeting,” said ING Bank economist Martin van Vliet.

But he added: “With a sustainable recovery not yet assured – this is still very much a jobless recovery – ECB President Draghi, in his press statement, will likely keep the door to further easing wide open.”

Retail sales in the 17 countries using the euro rebounded 1.4 per cent in November after a 0.4 per cent decline in October, the fastest monthly increase since November 2001.

Compared with the same period last year, the volume of sales rose 1.6 per cent after a 0.3 per cent fall in October, delivering the strongest rise since February 2008.

The number of people out of work in the eurozone was 19.241 million, 4,000 more than in the previous month, the EU’s statistics office Eurostat said.

Unemployment was lowest in Austria, at 4.8 per cent, and Germany, at 5.2 per cent, while the highest rates of joblessness were in Greece, at 27.4 per cent and Spain at 26.7 per cent.

The number of people out of work in Europe has been rising since 2011. The European Commission yesterday said that in addition to national reforms, the 28-nation EU had to integrate further economically, fiscally and politically to address the problem.

“Without these further steps, uncertainty could return sooner than we think and today’s recovery could quickly dissipate,” European Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion László Andor wrote in a comment to the data.

Retail sales rose strongly in the eurozone’s two largest economies, Germany and France, by 1.5 and 2.1 per cent respectively, despite a deterioration in French consumer and business morale in November.