The Eurozone (EA16) seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate was 9.9% in January 2010, the same as in December 2009. It was 8.5% in January 2009. The EU27 unemployment rate was 9.5% in January 2010, unchanged compared with December 2009. It was 8.0% in January 2009. The rate was 4.2% in the Netherlands; 18.8% in Spain and 13.8% in Ireland. Youth unemployment (under 25s) was 20.2% and 32.4% in Ireland.

Eurostat estimates that 23 million men and women in the EU27, of whom 15.7 million were in the Eurozone, were unemployed in January 2010. Compared with December 2009, the number of persons unemployed increased by 136,000 in the EU27 and by 38,000 in the Eurozone. Compared with January 2009, unemployment went up by 3.8 million in the EU27 and by 2.2 million in the Eurozone. These figures are published by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.

Among the Member States, the lowest unemployment rates were recorded in the Netherlands (4.2%) and Austria (5.3%), and the highest rates in Latvia (22.9%) and Spain (18.8%). Compared with a year ago, all Member States recorded an increase in their unemployment rate. The smallest increases were observed in Germany (7.2% to 7.5%), Luxembourg (5.4% to 5.9%) and Belgium (7.5% to 8.0%). The highest increases were registered in Latvia (12.3% to 22.9%), Lithuania (6.4% to 14.6% between the third quarters of 2008 and 2009) and Estonia (7.6% to 15.5% between the fourth quarters of 2008 and 2009).

Between January 2009 and January 2010, the unemployment rate for males rose from 8.2% to 9.9% in the Eurozone and from 7.8% to 9.7% in the EU27. The female unemployment rate increased from 9.0% to 10.0% in the Eurozone and from 8.1% to 9.3% in the EU27.

In January 2010, the youth unemployment rate (under-25s) was 20.2% in the Eurozone and 20.9% in the EU27. In January 2009 it was 17.8% and 17.7% respectively. The lowest rate was observed in the Netherlands (8.1%), and the highest rates in Latvia (43.6% in the fourth quarter of 2009) and Spain (39.6%).

In the US, the unemployment rate was 9.7% in January 2010. In Japan it was 5.1% in December 2009.

The Eurozone (EA16) consists of Belgium, Germany, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Italy, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Austria, Portugal, Slovenia, Slovakia and Finland.

The EU27 includes Belgium (BE), Bulgaria (BG), the Czech Republic (CZ), Denmark (DK), Germany (DE), Estonia (EE), Ireland (IE), Greece (EL), Spain (ES), France (FR), Italy (IT), Cyprus (CY), Latvia (LV), Lithuania (LT), Luxembourg (LU), Hungary (HU), Malta (MT), the Netherlands (NL), Austria (AT), Poland (PL), Portugal (PT), Romania (RO), Slovenia (SI), Slovakia (SK), Finland (FI), Sweden (SE) and the United Kingdom (UK).