(BRUSSELS) - The unemployment rate in the 15 countries sharing the euro held steady in July the fourth month running at 7.3 percent, according to the European Union's Eurostat data agency on Friday.

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 lost pace.

The July jobless rate was down from 7.4 percent in July 2007.

In the 27-nation EU as a whole, the unemployment rate held steady in July for the seventh month running at 6.8 percent, but was down from 7.1 percent in July 2007.

Eurostat estimated that 16.29 million workers were without a job in July throughout the EU, including 11.37 million in the eurozone.

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