Over 26m people remain unemployed in EU

The euro area unemployment rate was 12.1% in November 2013, stable since April. The EU unemployment rate was 10.9%, stable since May. In both zones, the rates increased compared with November 2012, when they were 11.8% and 10.8% respectively. These figures were published Wednesday by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union. Eurostat said that 26.553 million men and women in the EU, of whom 19.241 million were in the euro area, were unemployed in November 2013. Compared with October 2013, the number of persons unemployed increased by 19,000 in the EU and by 4, 000 in the euro area. Compared with November 2012, unemployment rose by 278, 000 in the EU and by 452, 000 in the euro area. Among the EU Member States, the lowest unemployment rates were recorded in Austria (4.8%), Germany (5.2%) and Luxembourg (6.1%), and the highest in Greece (27.4%) and Spain (26.7%). Compared with a year ago, the unemployment rate increased in fourteen EU Member States and fell in fourteen.