Brussels, 27/02/2009 (Agence Europe) - The euro area (EA16) seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate was 8.2% in January 2009, compared with 8.1% in December 2008, according, to information published on Friday 27 February by Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European communities. It was 7.3% in January 2008.
In the EU27, the unemployment rate was 7.6% in January 2009, compared with 7.5% in December 2008. It was 6.8% in January 2008. Eurostat estimates that 18.412 million men and women in the EU27 were unemployed in January 2009, with 13.036 million of this number in the euro area. Compared with December 2008, the number of persons unemployed rose by 386,000 in the EU27 and by 256,000 in the euro area. Compared with January 2008, unemployment went up by 2.194 million in the EU27 and by 1.641 million in the euro area.
The lowest unemployment rates were recorded in the Netherlands (2.8%) and Austria (4.0%), and the highest in Spain (14.8%) and Latvia (12.3%). Compared with a year ago, the largest falls were observed in Poland (8.0% to 6.7%) and Bulgaria (6.1% to 5.3%), and the highest increases in Latvia (6.2% to 12.3%) and Spain (9.0% to 14.8%). In January 2009, the unemployment rate was 7.6% in the USA. In Japan it was 4.4% in December 2008. (L.C./transl.rt)