Unemployment in eurozone hits record of 11.6 percent

The rate reported by Eurostat, the EU's statistics office, on Wednesday is an increase from an upwardly-revised 11.5 percent in August.

Spain has the highest unemployment rate in the eurozone at 25.8 percent. Greece is not far behind at 25.1 percent, though its figure relates to July.

Both countries, which are at the epicenter of Europe's three-year debt crisis, have youth unemployment above 50 percent.

Separately, Eurostat reported that inflation in the eurozone fell modestly to 2.5 percent in the year to October, from the previous month's 2.6 percent. Inflation is still above the European Central Bank's target of just below 2 percent.