Eurostat confirms that inflation is increasing all over Europe, while employment levels as a whole are steady. The Statistics Office of the EU Commission reports that in January 2008 the price levels "in the euro-zone (15 States) rose to 3.2% versus 3.1 the previous month". The year before, they were 1.8%. Within the 27 member states, this figure rises instead to 3.4% (one year before it was 2.1%). The lowest levels of inflation are those of the Netherlands (1.8%), the UK (2.2), Germany and Portugal (2.9). The highest are instead in Latvia (15.6%), Bulgaria and Estonia. Unemployment is steady within the euro-zone at 7.1% (same as December the previous year). In the 27 member states the overall level of unemployment is lower, at 6.8%. Once again the lowest levels are those of the Netherlands (2.9%) and the highest ones in Slovakia (10.4%). Unemployment keeps decreasing in the eastern countries, starting from Poland that dropped from 11.1 to 8,6% in one year.
