(BRUSSELS) - Unemployment in the 15 nations sharing the euro ticked up in August to 7.5 percent of the workforce, according to figures from the European Union's Eurostat data agency released Wednesday.

Until August, the jobless rate in the bloc had held steady at 7.4 percent for three months running despite a sharp deterioration in the economic outlook.

Long the bane of eurozone politicians, unemployment has been gradually falling in recent years from a peak of 9.1 percent in March 2005 although the decline has largely stalled over the last year as the economy has lost pace.

The August jobless rate was up from 7.4 percent in August 2007.

In the 27-nation EU as a whole, the unemployment rate held steady in August for the fourth month running at 6.9 percent, but was down from 7.1 percent in August 2007.

Eurostat estimated that 16.57 million workers were without a job in August throughout the EU, including 11.60 million in the eurozone.

Further details - Eurostat

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