Unemployment rate of EU hits 7.5% in November

The EU's unemployment rate hit 7.5% in November, the bloc's statistical office announced on Friday.

Compared to October, the number of unemployed in the EU fell by 222,000, dropping from 7.6% Eurostat said.

Yet the employment rate was up from 6.6% a year earlier in November, reflecting the continued economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The unemployment rate in eurozone was also up by 0.9 percentage point to 8.3% in November on an annual basis.

Eurostat said that nearly 16 million men and women in the EU, including 13.6 million in the euro area, were unemployed in November 2020.

The youth unemployment rate was 17.7% in the EU and 18.4% in the euro area, up from 17.5% and 18.0% respectively in the previous month.

In November, youth unemployment rose by 456,000 in EU member states and 398,000 in euro area, compared to the same month last year.

The unemployment rate in the EU for women was 7.9%, while for men it was 7.1%.

The eurozone/euro area or EA19 represents member states that use the single currency-euro-while the EU27 includes all member countries of the bloc.