Eurozone unemployment rose to 8.6pc in January of this year from 8.5pc in December 2002, according to the EU's statistics office Eurostat. In the EU as a whole, unemployment increased to 7.9pc from December's 7.8pc. The unemployment rate was 7.4pc in January 2002. The lowest rates in January were posted in Luxembourg at 2.7pc, Austria at 4.1pc and Ireland with 4.5pc, while Spain registered the highest rate at 9.1pc. Germany posted 8.6pc.
The news comes amid a series of indicators in the past few days pointing to a general slow-down in the European economy. While the French jobless rate fell slightly to 9.0pc in January from 9.1pc in December, consumer confidence in France fell to its lowest level in five years last month, as companies continue to shed jobs amid slowing demand. Meanwhile, retail sales in Germany declined in 2002 for the first time in five years, the first full year decline in sales since 1997, when sales fell a real 1.7pc or a nominal 1.1pc. The German economy expanded at its slowest pace in almost a decade last year, with GDP growing by just 0.2pc, down from 0.6pc in 2001. //www.fxcentre.com