Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Communities, has announced that in January this year the unemployment rate in the European Union member states (EU-28) was 8.1 percent, down from 8.2 percent in December and declining from 8.9 percent in the same month of last year. This is the lowest rate recorded in the EU-28 since January 2009. The seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate in the euro area in January was 9.6 percent, stable from December and decreasing from 10.4 percent in January of the previous year. This is the lowest rate recorded in the euro area since May 2009.
In January this year, the unemployment rate in the EU-28 fell in 25 states, on year-on-year basis. Among the EU-28 member states, in January the lowest unemployment rates were recorded in the the Czech Republic (3.4%) and Germany (3.8%), and the highest in Greece (23% in November 2016) and Spain (18.2%).
Meanwhile, in the given month the unemployment rate in the United States was 4.8 percent, up from 4.7 percent in December and declining from 4.9 percent in January 2016.