The official data found that the 28 member state European Union saw a 0.1% month-on-month drop to close on 9.3%, down from 10.1% in September 2014, with September turning in the lowest unemployment level since the same month in 2009.


In Portugal, there was a similar monthly fall and, even while the 12.2% rate stands against the 13.4% rate of twelve months ago, this still leaves Portugal with the fifth highest unemployment rate in the European Union and behind Greece (25%), Spain (21.6%), Croatia (15.4%) and Cyprus (15.1%).


Leading the way in getting their citizens into jobs were Germany (4.5%), the Czech Republic (4.8%) and Malta (5.1%).


Nevertheless, youth unemployment remained a particular issue across the continent and accounting for 22.2% and 20.1% of those aged under 25 and not in education across the Eurozone and the EU respectively.


In Portugal, there was a minor improvement in this age group with unemployment dropping to 31.2% against the 32.8% recorded in September 2014.


In turn, Eurostat reported Friday that the annualised inflation rate in October was forecast to stand at 0.0% up from the negative 0.1% reported in September with the 8.7% annualised fall in energy prices the main driver of the suboptimal inflation performance.