ROME: Italy's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate rose for a third straight month in November, reaching a new record high of 13.4 percent, up from a revised figure of 13.3 percent in October, data on Wednesday showed.

The October rate was revised up from a previously reported 13.2 percent, Italy's statistics office ISTAT said.

The unemployment rate, the highest since ISTAT began reporting the series in 1977, underscored the impact of the third recession to hit the eurozone's third-largest economy since 2008.

Youth unemployment, measuring job-seekers between 15 and 24 years old, was 43.9 percent in November, up from 43.3 percent the previous month and also a record high. The rate has doubled since 2008, when the global economic crisis erupted.

The data follow Prime Minister Matteo Renzi's passage of his long-heralded Jobs Act, intended to free up labour rules to make job creation more attractive to employers.

Though economists say it may help ease hiring when the economy picks up, the new labour rules are not expected to produce any near-term turnaround in unemployment numbers. Italy's economy has not grown since mid-2011.

Copyright Reuters, 2014