Brussels, Jan. 8, (dpa/GNA) – The rate of unemployment in the 19 countries that use the euro decreased slightly in November – by 0.1 percentage points from the previous month – but remained significantly higher than in 2019.
The first estimate from the European Union’s statistical office, released on Friday, showed that 8.3 per cent of the eurozone workforce was unemployed in November. The rate was 7.4 per cent in the same month in 2019.
For the whole 27-member European Union, unemployment was at 7.5 per cent in November 2020, down from 7.6 in October but up from 6.6 per cent in November 2019.
The coronavirus pandemic has put thousands of people out of work in Europe.
But according to a previous estimate from the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), EU governments saved more than 40 million jobs at the height of the crisis using short-time work programmes.
All these employees, currently suspended, are at risk should such programmes be ended, ETUC warned.
GNA