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 8.9 percent, down from nine percent recorded in December and declining from 9.8 percent in the same month of 2015. This is the lowest rate recorded in the EU-28 since May 2009. The seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate in the euro area in January was 10.3 percent, down from 10.4 percent in December and from 11.3 percent in January last year.
In January this year, the unemployment rate in the EU-28 fell in 24 states, remained stable in Estonia and increased in three states, on year-on-year basis. Among the EU-28 member states, in January the lowest employment rates were recorded in Germany (4.3%), the Czech Republic (4.5%) and Malta and the United Kingdom (both 5.1%, UK rate is for November); and the highest in Greece (24.6% in November 2015) and Spain (20.5%).
Meanwhile, in the given month the unemployment rate in the United States was 4.9 percent, down from five percent in the previous month and declining from 5.7 percent in January last year.