Eurozone unemployment at record 10.3%

Eurozone unemployment remained at an all-time record high of 10.3 percent for the second month running in November, official figures showed on Friday. The Eurostat data agency estimated that more than 16.3 million men and women were out of work in the 17-nation euro area in November after the ranks of the unemployed rose by 587,000 compared with November the previous year. The seasonally-adjusted rate was unchanged from the previous month, when it climbed to a record high. The jobless rate across the wider 27-nation European Union also remained unchanged at 9.8 percent. More than 23.6 million people were unemployed in the EU in October, an increase of 55,000 from October and of 723,000 compared with November 2010. The highest unemployment rate was registered once again in Spain where it rose to 22.9 percent in November compared to 22.4 percent a year earlier. In Greece, a nation trapped in the eurozone debt crisis, the jobless rate soared to 18.8 percent in September, the most recent available data. Austria recorded the lowest rate at 4.0 percent, against 4.1 percent a month earlier, followed by Luxembourg and the Netherlands, both at 4.9 percent, up from 4.7 percent and 4.8 percent respectively. Youth joblessness -- people under 25 -- increased to more than 5.5 million across the EU, or 22.3 percent, and to more than 3.3 million in the eurozone, or 21.7 percent. A year earlier youth unemployment stood at 21 percent in the EU and 20.6 percent in the eurozone.