BRUSSELS (AFX) - Unemployment in the euro zone stood at 8.7 pct in February, unchanged from January, and down from 9.4 pct a year earlier, the EU statistics office Eurostat said.
The January figured was revised from an initial estimate of 8.8 pct, it said.
In the EU 15, the February unemployment rate stood at 8.0 pct, unchanged from January, and down from 8.7 pct in February 2000, it said.
The lowest February unemployment rates were posted in Luxembourg, at 2.0 pct, Austria at 3.7 pct, and in Ireland at 3.8 pct, it said.
No February data was available for the Netherlands and Italy, but figures for January show a low rate for the Netherlands at 2.6 pct, with 9.9 pct registered in Italy.
The most important relative falls were seen in Ireland, down at 3.8 pct from 4.7 pct, France, at 8.6 pct from 10.2 pct, and in Sweden, at 5.3 pct from 6.6 pct, it said.
Spain's 13.7 pct remained the EU's highest rate in February, it said.
"Eurostat estimates that in February 2001, 11.8 mln men and women were unemployed in the euro-zone and 13.7 mln in the EU 15," it said.