Eurozone jobless rate holds on to post-crisis low

The eurozone jobless rate held at the lowest level in some seven years in November as a modest economic upturn continues, official data showed on Monday. Coming in at 9.8 percent in November, unchanged from October, the jobless rate for the 19-nation eurozone was the best since July 2009, according to the official statistics agency Eurostat, and in line with analyst forecasts compiled by Factset. The data has been showing a slow but steady improvement and in September, it fell to 9.9 percent, the first time since April 2011 the report came in below 10 percent.
The figures, plus other economic reports, have bolstered hopes the eurozone is finally turning the corner on the 2007-8 financial crash and subsequent debt crisis when unemployment peaked at 12.1 percent. The report however still leaves the eurozone well off the average 7.5 percent jobless rate seen before the crisis broke. By country in November, Europe's powerhouse economy Germany had the lowest eurozone jobless rate at 4.1 percent, while Spain and Greece at 19.2 percent and 23.1 percent, respectively, were the worst. France, the second biggest economy in the eurozone, was on 9.5 percent. Eurostat said there were 15.9 million unemployed in the eurozone in November, down 15,000 on the previous month.