The latest information from Eurostat shows a slight improvement in unemployment rates across the euro area and the wider EU. As per the data from Eurostat, the EU’s statistical office, the unemployment rate in the eurozone decreased to 6.4% in November 2023, a decline from 6.5% in the prior month and 6.7% the previous year. Similarly, the unemployment rate for the whole of the EU also saw a drop to 5.9% in November 2023, down from 6% in October and 6.1% in November 2022.

Eurostat estimated that roughly 13 million people in the EU, including about 11 million in the euro area, were unemployed in November 2023. Additionally, the under-25s unemployment rate was 14.5% in both the EU and the eurozone, a drop from 14.8% in the prior month, and approximately the same rate as observed in November 2022.

Breaking down the data by gender, the unemployment rate for women in the eurozone was 6.8%, down from 6.9% in October 2023. The rate for men was slightly lower at 6.1%, a decrease from 6.2% in the previous month.

Other eurozone nations including Switzerland and Italy also showed a downtrend in their unemployment rates. Switzerland witnessed an annual unemployment rate of 2%, the lowest since 2001, while Italy had an unemployment rate of 7.5% in November 2023, a decrease of 0.2% from October. The youth unemployment rate in Italy also dropped significantly from 23.5% to 21%.