Luxembourg - Unemployment in the eurozone remained steady at 7.8 per cent in January, according to data released on Friday by the European Union's statistics agency.

Eurostat's seasonally adjusted figure, unchanged from December's revised estimate, marks two straight months of the lowest rate recorded in the 19-member currency bloc since October 2008, according to the agency.

In January, 12.8 million people were out of work across the eurozone, down by 23,000 from the previous month.

Meanwhile, youth unemployment fell to 16.5 per cent in January from 16.6 per cent in December.

The EU's lowest unemployment rate was recorded in the Czech Republic at 2.1 per cent. Within the eurozone, the lowest figures were in Germany (3.2 per cent) and the Netherlands (3.6 per cent).

The highest rates were in Greece, where the most recent data show 18.5-per-cent unemployment in November, and Spain, at 14.1 per cent in December.

Across the 28-member EU, unemployment was 6.5 per cent in January, down 0.1 percentage points from December. This is the lowest rate since Eurostat started compiling monthly data in 2000, the agency said.