UPDATE 1-Argentina Nov jobless down to 7.1 pct - president

(Updates with president's comment, details)

BUENOS AIRES, Dec 19 (Reuters) - Argentina's unemployment rate eased to 7.1 percent in November, President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner said in a televised speech on Wednesday.

Fernandez said joblessness had steadily fallen from 7.7 percent in September to 7.4 percent in October.

"In the month of November which just ended, unemployment has fallen again to 7.1 (percent)," Fernandez said.

The INDEC statistics agency reports unemployment on a quarterly basis ARECI12.

Last month, it reported the third-quarter jobless rate at a 15-year low of 8.1 percent, but the figure was criticized by some economists and analysts because INDEC said it used a new methodology to calculate it.

INDEC said it relied on nationwide projections to cover four major urban centers because a string of recent worker strikes kept it from carrying out interviews in those areas.

Vigorous economic growth has helped Argentina to steadily lower the unemployment rate after it peaked at 21.5 percent in 2002 during a sharp economic crisis. The economy is on pace to chalk up its fifth straight year of growth above 8 percent. (Reporting by Hilary Burke and Damian Wroclavsky; Editing by James Dalgleish)