A report released by the Eurostat showed that in November, the unemployment rate fell by 0.1% to 6.4%. Economists had expected the unemployment rate to remain unchanged. A year earlier, the unemployment rate was at 6.7%. Meanwhile, the EU unemployment rate was 5.9% in November, compared with 6% in October and 6.1% in November 2022. Among the largest eurozone economies, the highest jobless rates were recorded in Spain (11.9%), Italy (7.5%) and France (7.3%), while the lowest rate was registered in Germany (3.1%) and Netherlands (3.5%).
Eurostat reported that in November, the number of unemployed persons in the eurozone decreased by 99,000 compared to October and by 282,000 in annual terms, to 10.970 million. As for the EU countries, the number of unemployed amounted to 12.954 million (-144,000 for the month and -283,000 compared to November 2022).
The data also showed that youth unemployment (under 25) in the eurozone increased by 49,000 compared to November 2022, reaching 2.321 million. In the EU, youth unemployment increased by 36,000, to 2.814 million. Meanwhile, the youth unemployment rate in the eurozone fell to 14.5% from 14.8% in October. In the EU, the youth unemployment rate also decreased by 0.3%, to 14.5%.
Eurostat also reported that in the EU, the unemployment rate among women fell to 6.2% from 6.3% in October, while the unemployment rate among men remained unchanged (+5.7%). In the eurozone, the unemployment rate for women was 6.8%, down from 6.9% in October, and the unemployment rate for men was 6.1%, down from 6.2% in the previous month.