Eurozone jobless rate shrinks again

The unemployment rate in the eurozone dropped again in November, official figures showed on Monday, as hiring withstood new coronavirus outbreaks in several member countries.

The EU's Eurostat agency said the seasonally-adjusted jobless rate -- which measures the number of people out of work as a proportion of the active population as a whole -- dipped to 7.2 per cent in November from 7.3 per cent in October and 7.4 per cent in July.

In the 27-member European Union, which includes countries such as Poland not in the single currency bloc, unemployment fell to 6.5 per cent in November from 6.7 per cent a month earlier.

The data were a marked improvement over a year earlier when the jobless rate stood at 8.1 per cent in the euro area and 7.4 per cent in the wider EU. The agency estimates that 13.9 million EU residents were out of work in November.

Youth unemployment stood at 15.4 per cent in the EU and 15.5 per cent in the eurozone, also down on the previous month.