Finland Times

Meanwhile, the unemployment rate in the wider 28-country European Union (EU) was 8.5 percent in September 2016, being the lowest rate recorded since February 2009 and stable compared with previous month, the figures from Eurostat, or the EU statistical agency, showed.

Eurostat said compared with September 2015, the number of persons unemployed decreased by 1.596 million in the EU and by 950,000 in the euro area.

Declines in the jobless rate were recorded in most euro zone countries. The largest decreases were registered in the Czech Republic and Germany.

Among the EU member states, the lowest unemployment rates in September 2016 were recorded in the Czech Republic (4.0 percent), Germany (4.1 percent) and Malta (4.7 percent), while the highest unemployment rates were observed in Greece (23.2 percent in July 2016) and Spain (19.3 percent), the EU agency noted.

Europe's youth unemployment crisis continues, as the youth unemployment rate is now 20.3 percent in the eurozone and 18.2 percent in the EU. That means there are still 4.125 million under-25s are out of work across the EU and the young people are still bearing the brunt of Europe's unemployment problem.

The youth unemployment situation improves little in some countries such as Greece (42.7 percent in July 2016), Spain (42.6 percent), and Italy (37.1 percent).

In September 2016, the unemployment rate in the United States was 5.0 percent, up from 4.9 percent in August 2016 but down from 5.1 percent in the same month a year ago.