Greece’s unemployment rate fell to 7.7 percent in April from 8.4 percent in the same month last year, boosted by an increase in the number of women joining the work force.

Data provided by the National Statistics Service (NSS) showed the number of jobless in April fell to 380,775 versus 415,047 last year.

“The number of employed people has been rising steadily from 2004 to 2008,” NSS said in a statement.

The country’s jobless rate, the only macroeconomic indicator to be improving recently, stood at 10.6 percent in April 2004.

Jobless rates among women dropped to 11.8 percent in April from 13.3 percent last year while for men it slipped to 4.8 percent from 5 percent.

Unemployment rates continue to be highest between the 15 to 24 age group and in the Ionian island and southern Aegean regions.

Despite the drop, the jobless rate remained above the eurozone average of 7.2 percent in April.