BRUSSELS, Belgium — Joblessness in the euro zone continued to rise in November even as the economy shrank in the third quarter, official figures showed Thursday.
The economy of the then 15-nation single currency zone contracted by 0.2 percent in the third quarter while unemployment rose to 7.8 percent in November from 7.7 percent in October.
Eurostat also confirmed that the wider 27-nation European Union contracted by 0.2 percent in the previous quarter — between July and September — and that the unemployment rate in November swelled to 7.2 percent from 7.1 percent the previous month.
Meanwhile, the European Commission reported that its economic sentiment indicator declined by 7.0 points for the EU as a whole and by 7.8 points in the euro zone, to 63.5 and 67.1.
It said its euro zone business climate indicator fell to minus 3.17 in December, its lowest level since January 1985.
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