The unemployment rate in the eurozone continued to fall in August, official data showed on Thursday, as the effects of the pandemic on hiring in Europe eased further over the summer months.

The EU's Eurostat agency said the seasonally-adjusted rate dipped to 7.5 per cent of the active population, after 7.8 per cent in June and 7.6 per cent in July. 

For the 27-member EU as a whole, including countries not in the single currency bloc, unemployment also fell by 0.1 percentage points over one month in August to 6.8 per cent.

The agency estimates that 14.47 million EU residents were out of work in July.

The data were a marked improvement over a year ago when unemployment stood at 8.6 per cent of the working population in the euro area in August 2020 and 7.7 per cent in the EU. 

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