Unemployment rate in Eurozone held steady at record 12.1 percent in July, in line with forecasts, data from the Eurostat showed Friday.

The jobless rate has remained at this level for the fourth consecutive month. According to Eurostat estimates, 19.231 million people were unemployed in euro area in July. Compared with June, unemployment decreased by 15,000, but rose by 1.008 million year-on-year.

Among the EU member states, the lowest unemployment rate was recorded in Austria, followed by Germany and Luxembourg. The highest were in Greece and Spain.

In July, 3.500 million persons under the age of 25 were unemployed in the region. Compared with July 2012, their unemployment has decreased by 16,000. The youth unemployment rate was 24 percent.

In EU28, including Croatia, the overall unemployment rate was 11 percent, steady compared with June. There were 26.654 million unemployed persons in the EU during the month.