The eurozone welcomed a slight drop in its average unemployment rate.
Unemployment in March stood at 11.8%. Although this was the same as the previous month, it is down from 12% in March 2013.
Eurostat estimates there are 18,913 million people without work in the euro region.
The highest rates were in Greece (26.7%) and Spain (25.3%). Portugal slipped down one notch to fourth place after Cyprus.
Portugal’s rate of 15.2% for March was a large fall from 17.4% suffered in March 2013, although it has been stable at 15.2% since December 2012.
Nevertheless, the drop was one of the largest in the eurozone. Other countries were not so fortunate and saw the rate actually increase over the last year. The largest increase was registered in Cyprus (14.8% to 17.4%) and the Netherlands (6.4% to 7.2%).
Portugal's youth experienced some respite when the jobless rate fell from 40% in March 2013 to 35.4%.
