Number of Austrian unemployed people down 7.7 pct in Jan.

VIENNA, Feb. 1 (Xinhua) -- The number of unemployed people in Austria declined 7.7 percent year on year in January to mark the biggest drop in 30 years, official data revealed on Thursday.

This means there were 455,860 unemployed people in Austria, a drop of nearly 38,000 people from the same month last year, according to the Public Employment Service (AMS).

The national unemployment rate by the end of last month stood at 9.5 percent, down slightly from the previous month.

The decline in unemployed people was seen across all states in the country, with the biggest drops seen in Styria (down 13.6 percent), Tyrol (down 11.3 percent) and Upper Austria (down 10.7 percent).

By industry, notable unemployment drops were seen in construction (down 14.2 percent), goods production (down 14 percent), and trade (down 9.2 percent).

The number of long-term unemployment, persons without work for 12 months or more, saw a 7.7-percent decline to 55,739 people, though the average amount of time required to find a new job remained unchanged at 120 days. Enditem