Euro area inflation rises, unemployment drops

Euro area annual inflation is expected to be -0.3% in February 2015, up from -0.6% in January, according to a flash estimate by Eurostat.

Looking at the main components of euro area inflation, services is expected to have the highest annual rate in February (1.1%, compared with 1.0% in January), followed by food, alcohol & tobacco (0.5%, compared with -0.1% in January), non-energy industrial goods (-0.2%, compared with -0.1% in January) and energy (-7.9%, compared with -9.3% in January).

Unemployment drops

The euro area seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate was 11.2% in January 2015, down from 11.3% in December 20144, and from 11.8% in January 2014, according to Eurostat.

This is the lowest rate recorded in the euro area since April 2012. The EU28 unemployment rate was 9.8% in January 2015, down from 9.9% in December 2014 and from 10.6% in January 2014. 

Eurostat estimates that 23.815 million men and women in the EU28, of whom 18.059 million were in the euro area, were unemployed in January 2015. Compared with December 2014, the number of persons unemployed decreased by 156,000 in the EU28 and by 140,000 in the euro area. Compared with January 2014, unemployment fell by 1.820 million in the EU28 and by 896,000 in the euro area.

Among the member states, the lowest unemployment rates in January 2015 were recorded in Germany (4.7%) and Austria (4.8%), and the highest in Greece (25.8% in November 2014) and Spain (23.4%).

Compared with a year ago, the unemployment rate in January 2015 fell in twenty-four member states, remained stable in Belgium and increased in Cyprus (15.7% to 16.1%), Finland (8.4% to 8.8%) and France (10.1% to 10.2%). The largest decreases were registered in Spain (25.5% to 23.4%), Estonia (8.5% to 6.4% between December 2013 and December 2014), and Ireland (12.1% to 10.0%).