Rome, 1 Dec. (AKI) - Italy's unemployment rate rose to 8 percent in October, the highest rate recorded in five years. According to official statistics released by the European Union's statistics agency, ISTAT, the number of jobless in Italy rose from 7.8 percent in September.

The minister for economic development, Claudio Scajola, said that Italy's jobless rate was far better than the EU average and many other countries.

"The economic crisis is moving to unemployment," he said. "However this figure is not worse than the European average, and we are doing better."

Unemployment in the 16-countries of the Eurozone totalled 9.8 percent of the workforce, unchanged from September's upwardly revised rate.

But the rate in the region is still an 11-year high that defies speculation about an economic recovery.

In France, the euro zone's second-biggest economy, unemployment rose to 10.1 percent from 10.0 percent, and to 19.3 from 19.1 percent in Spain.

Young people in Italy were hard hit by the economic downturn with the rate of unemployment rising to 26.9 percent from 26.2 percent in September.

More than two million people are looking for work in Italy - 40,000 more than in September .

The latest figures showed women had been hit harder by the economic downturn with female unemployment as high as 9.5 percent.

A total of 15.5 million people were unemployed in the euro area in October, up by 134,000 compared to September.