The number of unemployed persons registered at the District Labour Offices dropped by 6.1% year-on-year to 41,852 in December, the statistical service Cystat said.
The drop was mainly in construction (a decrease of 1,088 unemployed persons), manufacturing (-575), trade (-426), public administration (-425), transportation (-356) and newcomers in the labour market (-238).
Based on the seasonally adjusted data that show the trend of unemployment, the number of registered unemployed for December decreased to 38,378 persons compared to 38,406 in the previous month.
Compared to November 2016, the number of unemployed persons rose by 1,200 persons or by 2.96%.
Meanwhile, according to Eurostat figures, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate stood at 14.2% in November, up from 13.8% in October, corresponding to 61,000 unemployed persons, the third highest rate in the EU.
The euro area (EA19) seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 9.8% in November, stable compared to October and down from 10.5% in November 2015. This is the lowest rate recorded in the euro area since July 2009.
The EU28 unemployment rate was 8.3% in November, down from 8.4% in October and from 9.0% in November 2015. This is the lowest rate recorded in the EU28 since February 2009.
Eurostat estimates that 20.429 million men and women in the EU28, of whom 15.898 million were in the euro area, were unemployed in November. Compared with October, the number of persons unemployed decreased by 41,000 in the EU28 and by 15,000 in the euro area. Compared with November 2015, unemployment fell by 1.552 million in the EU28 and by 972,000 in the euro area.
Among the member states, the lowest unemployment rates in November were in the Czech Republic (3.7%) and Germany (4.1%). The highest unemployment rates were in Greece (23.1% in September 2016) and Spain (19.2%).
Compared with a year ago, the unemployment rate in November fell in 24 member states, while it increased in Estonia (from 6.3% to 7.4% between October 2015 and October 2016), Cyprus (from 13.2% to 14.2%), Denmark (from 6.1% to 6.5%) and Italy (from 11.5% to 11.9%). The largest decrease was registered in Croatia (from 15.7% to 11.4%).
