Consumers drive rebound

Consumers in Europe are driving a rebound in the region’s economic recovery, despite a resurgence in coronavirus cases.

Measures such as visits to leisure venues, spending, travel and hiring are all at or near their highest levels since the start of the pandemic, data suggests.

A tracker compiled by the OECD, which uses measures of mobility and Google word searches as a proxy for labour markets, consumption and sentiment, held steady in August at about its highest level since the start of the pandemic, after rising sharply in June and July.

“The major eurozone economies are proving [to be] more resilient to the fourth wave of Covid infections than previous ones,” Nicolas Woloszko, an OECD economist told the FT.

Google data on visits to bars, shops and restaurants illustrate the recovery across services industries.

Data also suggest that this summer’s tourism season has been much stronger than last year.

Public transport use has improved in recent months, but it is still below pre-pandemic levels across all major eurozone countries, according to Google mobility data.