The number of registered unemployed persons was at 112,560, which is 1.9% less than in August and 1.8% less than a year ago.

On an annual level, the unemployment rate was down 0.3 percentage points. After peaking in January at 14.2%, the share of jobless persons has gradually dropped by 1.9% percentage points this year.

However, the Statistics Office expects the rate to increase slightly in October due to seasonal factors, which were reflected already in the employment figures from the Employment Service.

The main cause for this is the number of students who have entered the job market after their studies ended.

The drop in unemployment in September was equal for both sexes, at 0.3 percentage points, with the rate among men at 10.9% and among women at 13.9%.

While the rate among men fell by 0.8 percentage points in the past year, it was up 0.3 percentage points among women.

The number of active people rose in September by 3,799 to 805,523, the Statistics Office said.

There were a total of 708,162 employed persons and 97,631 self-employed persons, both of which represented a 0.5% increase on the month before.