Eurostat, the European Union’s statistical office, estimated that 16.574 million men and women were unemployed in September 2018, taking the unemployment rate to 6.7%, down from 7.5% the year before.

This is the lowest recorded unemployment rate recorded in the EU28 since the start of the EU monthly unemployment series in January 2000, the latest monthly statistics update confirmed.

Among the states with the lowest unemployment rates in September were the Czech Republic at 2.3%, and Germany and Poland both at 3.4%.

The highest unemployment rates were recorded in Greece at 19% and Spain at 14.9%.

In Cyprus, the rate fell from 10.2% to 7.4% in the last year, while Croatia saw unemployment fall to 8.2%, from 10.5% last September.

Youth unemployment stood at 14.9% in September 2018, compared with 16.5% the year before. The lowest rates were in the Czech Republic and Germany, both at 6.3% and the Netherlands at 7.5%.

The highest youth unemployment rates were recorded in Greece at 37.9%, Spain 34.3% and Italy at 31.6%.