Unemployment in euro zone up in January

Euro zone unemployment rose to 8.6 per cent in January from 8.5 per cent in December 2002, the EU's Eurostat statistics office said.

In the EU as a whole, unemployment increased to 7.9 per cent from December's 7.8 per cent. It was 7.4 per cent in January 2002.

The lowest rates in January were posted in Luxembourg (2.7 per cent), Austria (4.1 per cent) and Ireland (4.5 per cent).

Spain (4.1 per cent) registered the highest rate, followed by Finland and France (both 9 per cent), Germany (8.6 per cent), Belgium (7.7 per cent) and Portugal (6.1 per cent).

AFP