UNEMPLOYMENT : JOBLESS RATE STABLE IN EUROZONE AND EU.

The eurozone seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 10.3% in November 2011, unchanged from October (it was 10% in November 2010). The EU27 jobless rate was 9.8% in November 2011, also unchanged compared with October (9.6% in November 2010), Eurostat reported, on 6 January.

The EU statistical office estimates that 23.674 million men and women were unemployed in November 2011 in the EU27, of whom 16.372 million in the eurozone. Compared with November 2010, unemployment rose by 723,000 in the EU27 and by 587,000 in the eurozone.

Among member states, the lowest jobless rates were registered in Austria (4%), Luxembourg and the Netherlands (4.9% each), and the highest in Spain (22.9%), Greece (18.8% in September 2011) and Lithuania (15.3% in third quarter 2011).

Between November 2010 and November 2011, the unemployment rate for males increased from 9.8% to 10% in the eurozone and from 9.5% to 9.7% in the EU27...