The EU unemployment rate was 10.1% in August 2014, the lowest value since February 2012, Eurostat, the EU's statistical office, reported Tuesday.
The rate was down from 10.2% in July 2014, and from 10.8% in August 2013.
The euro area unemployment rate was 11.5% in August 2014, down from 12% in August 2013. Eurostat estimated that 24.642 million men and women in the EU, of whom 18.326 million were in the euro area, were unemployed in August 2014.
Compared with July 2014, the number of persons unemployed decreased by 134,000 in the EU and by 137,000 in the euro area.
Compared with August 2013, unemployment fell by 1.745 million in the EU and by 834,000 in the euro area.
Among the EU Member States, the lowest unemployment rates were recorded in Austria (4.7%) and Germany (4.9%), and the highest in Greece (27%) and Spain (24.4%).
Compared with a year ago, the unemployment rate fell in twenty-two EU Member States, increased in four and remained stable in two.