The unemployment level in the eurozone dropped to 9.6% in December 2016.
This was down from the 10.5% which stood the previous December.
It is the lowest level seen in the region since May 2009 where 15,571,000 people remain in need of employment.
Portugal’s jobless rate went down to 10.2% last December, a fall of a full 2% from the year before. This meant that there were 520,000 people still looking for paid work.
The decline has pushed Portugal down to the level of fifth highest in the euro area where once it held the rank of third highest.
Portuguese youth fared a bit better. While the rate has dropped from more than 30% to 26% during 2016, nevertheless some 96,000 young people were without jobs.
The highest rates of unemployment remain in Greece (23%) and Spain (18.4%). The two other countries with rates now higher than Portugal were Cyprus (14.3%) and Italy (12%).
Countries enjoying the lowest rates in the zone were Germany (4%), Malta (4.5%), the Netherlands (5.4%) and Austria (5.7%).
Outside the euro area, the most recent data for the UK was in October when the rate lowered to 4.8%. In the US, the level also dropped from 5% to 4.7% by December 2016.
