The unemployment rate in the eurozone continued to fall in August as the reopening following the easing of pandemic-related restrictions followed a strong economic recovery in the summer.
The eurozone unemployment rate fell from 7.6% in July to 7.5% in August, according to data from the European Union’s statistics agency, Eurostat.
The reading matches the forecasts of economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal.
The number of people classified as unemployed in the eurozone fell by 261,000 in August to 12.2 million, down from the previous month, the agency said.
Eurostat said the youth unemployment rate (in people under 25) fell to 16.4% in August, from 16.7% in July.
Those classified as unemployed do not include those who were not free to seek work, the statistics agency said, citing the example of parents who had to perform childcare duties.
The data also does not include workers classified under furlough programs as unemployed. These programs, which have limited the impact of the pandemic on the region’s labor market, cover a large proportion of the wages of workers employed by businesses that have had to cut their activities as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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