It revealed that across the euro area, the seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate was 11.9 per cent in January 2013, which is up from 11.8 per cent in December 2012.
Eurostat revealed that it estimates more than 26 million men and women in the EU27, of whom close to 19 million were in the euro area, were unemployed in January 2013.
Youth unemployment was also shown by the figures to have gone up in the first month of the year, with the data from the body indicating that more than 5.7 million young people are out of work in the continent.
Compared with December 2012, Eurostat stated that the number of young people unemployed increased by 222,000 in the EU27 and by 201,000 in the euro area.
In January 2013, the youth unemployment rate was 23.6 per cent in the EU27 and 24.2 per cent in the euro area, which is compared with 22.4 per cent and 21.9 per cent respectively in the same month in the previous year.
Germany had the lowest rate of youth unemployment in the continent, where 7.9 per cent of young people are seeking work, while 59.4 per cent of youths in Greece are jobless.
The data also revealed that 38.7 per cent of young people in Italy are currently out of work, along with 55.5 per cent in Spain. However, the youth unemployment rate in Austria is just 9.9 per cent and the figure stands at 10.3 per cent for the Netherlands.
Employment figures released by the Office for National Statistics last month showed youth unemployment in parts of the UK is rising. Data revealed the number of out-of-work 16 to 24-year-olds in Greater Manchester was up during January, with 23,000 youths claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance.
