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View All NewsEurope – European Union jobless rate in January is lowest in 19 years
The unemployment rate in the European Union in January fell to its lowest since January 2000, according to seasonally adjusted numbers released Friday by Eurostat. The unemployment rate was 6.5% last month, down from 7.3% in January 2018.
Czechia posted one of the lowest jobless rates in Europe at 2.1% in January, according to seasonally adjusted data from Eurostat. It was followed by Germany at 3.2%.
Highest unemployment rates were in Greece (18.5% in November), Spain at 14.1% in December and Italy at 10.5% in January.
The seasonally adjusted jobless rate among countries that use the euro fell to 7.8% in January from 8.6% in January 2018, according to Eurostat. However, the jobless rate remained stable compared to December.
Among all European Union countries, the jobless rates were:
| January 2019 | January 2018 | |
| Belgium | 5.6% | 6.1% |
| Bulgaria | 4.8% | 5.6% |
| Czechia | 2.1% | 2.4% |
| Denmark | 5.0% | 5.0% |
| Germany | 3.2% | 3.5% |
| Estonia | -- | 5.6%** |
| Ireland | 5.3% | 6.0% |
| Greece | -- | 21.1%* |
| Spain | 14.1% | 16.4% |
| France | 8.8% | 9.2% |
| Croatia | 7.6% | 9.4% |
| Italy | 10.5% | 11.0% |
| Cyprus | 7.4% | 10.1% |
| Latvia | 7.3% | 8.0% |
| Lithuania | 6.2% | 6.6% |
| Luxembourg | 4.9% | 5.4% |
| Hungary | -- | 3.8%** |
| Malta | 3.8% | 3.8% |
| Netherlands | 3.6% | 4.2% |
| Austria | 4.8% | 5.2% |
| Poland | 3.7% | 4.2% |
| Portugal | 6.7% | 7.8% |
| Romania | 3.9% | 4.4% |
| Slovenia | 5.2% | 5.6% |
| Slovakia | 6.2% | 7.3% |
| Finland | 6.7% | 8.2% |
| Sweden | 6.2% | 6.4% |
| United Kingdom | -- | 4.3%* |
| Iceland | -- | 3.0% |
| Norway | 3.7% | 4.1%** |
| *November 2017, ** December 2017 | ||