Unemployment in Eurozone at decade-low in November

Brussels: Unemployment in the eurozone fell in November, data showed on Wednesday, as joblessness in Europe neared pre-crisis levels.

Eurostat said the jobless rate in the single currency area fell to 7.9 per cent in November, a 10-year low and down from a revised 8.0 per cent for the previous month. Unemployment in the euro area has been falling steadily since it fell below the symbolic threshold of 10 per cent in September 2016.

With the latest data, unemployment nears the average rate before the 2007-08 financial crisis, when it stood at 7.5 per cent. At the worst of the ensuing debt crisis in 2013, unemployment reached a record 12.1 per cent in the euro area.

Among the 19 single currency countries, the lowest unemployment rate in November was recorded in Germany at 3.3 per cent, according to Eurostat.

The highest rate was in Greece with 18.6 per cent in September, the latest available figure. Spain was on 14.7 per cent. In the full 28 countries of the European Union, the unemployment rate stood at 6.7 per cent in November, stable compared to a month earlier, Eurostat said.

This remains the lowest EU-wide number since measurements began in 2000, with the Czech Republic, closely linked to Germany's economy, at a tiny 1.9 per cent unemployment rate.