Unemployment in the European Union and the euro area slightly dropped in November, and it also dropped in Croatia, becoming equal to the EU average, a report from the European statistical office showed on Friday.

In November 2020, the unemployment rate in the 27-member EU, as measured by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) methodology, was 7.5%, down by 0.1 percentage points compared to October, Eurostat said.

The same decline was registered in the euro area, where unemployment dropped to 8.3%.

In November 2019, unemployment was 6.6% in the EU and 7.4% in the euro area.

There were 15.933 million unemployed persons in the EU in November 2020, including 13.609 million in the euro area. Their number declined compared to October by 222,000 in the EU and by 172,000 in the euro area.

Compared to November 2019, the number of unemployed rose by 1.795 million in the EU and by 1.425 million in the euro area.

Spain records highest unemployment rate

The highest unemployment rates in November 2020 were recorded in Spain (16.4%) and Lithuania (10.4%).

In Croatia, the unemployment rate, as measured by ILO methodology, was 7.5% in November, compared to the revised 7.8% in October.

There were 135,000 unemployed persons in Croatia in November, 5,000 fewer than in October, according to revised data.

The lowest unemployment rates in November were recorded in Czechia (2.9%) and Poland (3.3%), the report shows.

The European statistical data did not have the data for Estonia, Greece and Hungary.

Youth unemployment rate on the rise

In November 2020, 3.171 million young persons (under 25) were unemployed in the EU, including 2.629 million in the euro area. Compared to October, their number increased by 51,000 in the EU and by 64,000 in the euro area.

Compared to the same month of 2019, it rose by 456,000 in the EU and by 398,000 in the euro area.

The youth unemployment rate in the EU went up to 17.7% in November 2020, from 17.5% in October 2020. In the euro area it grew from 17.5% to 18.0%.