However, data from the European Union’s statistical service revealed that in total, an estimated 18.407 million people were out of work across the euro area, down slightly from 18.412 million recorded in June.

The unemployment rate remained the highest in Greece (27%), according to the most recent figures available to Eurostat, which was May this year. Spain was a non-mover – its unemployment rate stayed at 24.5%. 

The percentage of people out of work was lowest in Austria and Germany at 4.9%. The next lowest unemployment rates was recorded in Malta (5.7%). 

Across the EU as a whole, the unemployment rate remained at 10.2% in July, compared to the previous month, but in numerical terms, the number of people out of work fell by 155,000. This is higher than the rate in the US, where 6.2% of people were out of work in July.

Youth unemployment in July stagnated, reaching 23.2% in the eurozone and fell slightly to 21.7% across the EU as whole, compared with 24% and 23.6% respectively in the same period last year. 

In July, the lowest levels of youth unemployment were observed in Germany (7.8%), Austria (9.3%) and the Netherlands (10.4%). The highest levels were recorded in Spain (53.8%), Greece (53.1% in May 2014), Italy (42.9%) and Croatia (41.5%), respectively.