In the euro zone, unemployment remained at a low level at the beginning of the year. In January, the unemployment rate remained at 6.7 percent, as in the two previous months, according to the Eurostat statistics office in Luxembourg.
The rate is just above the record low of 6.6 percent reached last October. The rate has never been lower since the introduction of the euro. Bank economists had also expected an unemployment rate of 6.6 percent for January.
Unemployment has remained at a comparatively low level for a year. At the beginning of 2022, the unemployment rate was only slightly higher, at 6.9 percent.
As the statistics office also reported, around 11.29 million people were unemployed in the 20 member states of the euro zone in January, after around 11.25 million in December. Year-on-year, the number of unemployed fell by 220,000.
At 13.0 percent, Spain still has the highest unemployment rate of the 20 countries in the euro zone. At 3.0 percent, the German unemployment rate is among the lowest in the currency area.
Eurostat’s labor market data are based on indicators from the International Labor Organization (ILO). The rate for Germany is therefore significantly lower than the rate reported by the Federal Employment Agency (BA).
