The jobless rate in the euro area remained stable during August 2010, new figures have revealed.

According to Eurostat, unemployment held steady at 10.1 per cent in the eurozone and at 9.6 per cent across the whole 27 member states.

The statistics office for the European Union (EU) revealed the proportion of people out of work remained largely unchanged over the month, falling by 68,000 across the bloc and by 20,000 in euro nations.

However, the seasonally-adjusted employment rate for the EU27 was 9.2 per cent and 9.7 per cent in the 16 countries that have adopted the euro.

An estimated 23.066 million men and women within the EU were without jobs in August 2010, with a total of 15.869 million residents within the euro area.

Lowest rates of unemployment were found last month in Austria and the Netherlands, at 4.3 per cent and 4.5 per cent respectively, while the largest fall in joblessness was witnessed in Malta, where it fell by a percentage point to 6.2 per cent.

Data published by Eurostat showed that employment totals in both the eurozone and the EU27 remained stable over the second quarter of 2010 compared with the first three months of the year.

Posted by Alex Donnell