BRUSSELS (AFX) - Unemployment in the euro zone stood at 8.8 pct in January, up from 8.7 pct in December 2000, and down from 9.5 pct a year earlier, the EU statistics office Eurostat said.
In the EU 15, the January unemployment rate stood at 8.0 pct, unchanged from December, down from 8.8 pct in January 2000, it said. The lowest January unemployment rates were posted in Austria at 3.7 pct, and in Ireland at 3.8 pct, it said.
No January data was available for Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Denmark, but figures for December 2000 show low rates for Luxembourg at 2.1 pct and the Netherlands at 2.8 pct.
Spain's 13.7 pct remained the EU's highest rate in January, it said.
The most important relative falls over the past 12 months were seen in Sweden, at 5.4 pct from 6.5 pct, in Ireland, at 3.8 pct from 4.8 pct, and in France, at 8.7 pct from 10.3 pct, it said.
"Eurostat estimates that in January 2001, 11.9 mln men and women were unemployed in the euro zone, and 13.9 mln in the EU 15," it said.