Unemployment in the Eurozone fell slightly in November despite the continuing economic shock of the coronavirus pandemic, official data showed on Friday.

The rate of unemployment dropped to 8.3 percent in November, lower than the 8.4 percent a month earlier, the EU data agency Eurostat said.

The figure, however, was up from 7.4 percent 12 months earlier, before a wave of lockdowns that pulled the plug on the European economy last spring.

However, youth unemployment rose sharply in November to 18.4 percent in the 19-country single currency bloc, up from 18.0 percent in October.

This increase fed concerns that young people entering the job market were the hardest hit economically by the pandemic.

The highest unemployment rate was recorded in Spain at 16.4 percent, with Italy at 8.9 percent and France at 8.8 percent also high.

The Czech Republic had the lowest unemployment, at only 2.9 percent of the labour force, ahead of Poland, the Netherlands and Germany, the bloc's biggest economy, which was at 4.5 percent.

The unemployment rate in the European Union as a whole followed the same trend as in the euro area, albeit at a lower level, standing at 7.5 percent.

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