ANKARA
The Euro area unemployment rate fell to 11.2 percent in January from 11.8 percent in December, according to a statement by the European statistics authority.
The EU-28 unemployment rate was 9.8 percent in January, down from 9.9 percent in December 2014 and from 10.6 percent in January 2014, Eurostat said Monday in a statement released in Brussels.
A total of 18.06 million people were out of work in the Euro area in January, it added.
Germany saw the lowest unemployment rate in 2015, at 4.7 percent.
Upward trend
Compared to a year ago, the unemployment rate in January 2015 fell in 24 members, remained stable in Belgium and increased in the Greek Cypriot administration to 16.1 percent from 15.7 percent, in Finland to 8.8 percent from 8.4 percent and in France to 10.2 percent from 10.1 percent.
The largest decrease was registered in Spain, from 25.5 percent in December to 23.4 percent in January.
Youth unemployment figures were much higher.
From the second quarter of 2008, the youth unemployment rate took an upward trend, peaking at 23.6 percent in the first quarter of 2013, before receding to 23.1 percent at the end of the year.
Economists noted that the slight decline in unemployment combined with a small improvement in consumer prices in the Eurozone, which fell 0.3 percent in January from a year earlier, after a 0.6 percent fall in January and 0.2 percent in December.
Deflation fears
Together, the statistics provide evidence of slow economic growth and raise fears of deflation, in which poor consumer spending halts growth for long periods, Apolline Menut, an economist at Barclays, said in a note Monday.
The euro, which has been trading near its lowest levels since 2003 against the dollar, rose 0.4 percent to $1.1218 in afternoon trading.
But some economists said there was a sense the Eurozone economy may improve in the near future.
"A weaker euro, lower oil prices, better economic environment and accommodative monetary policy should support confidence in the coming months," Menut said.
