Poland's unemployment rate rose to 10.5 percent in January 2009, from 9.5 percent in December 2008, the Central Statistical Office (GUS) reported on Tuesday.

GUS reported that the number of registered jobless stood at 1,634,400 at the end of January, an increase of 160,600 from December.

Unemployment in January will go up as usual, and it is a seasonal phenomenon, chief economist of the Business Center Club Stanislaw Gomulka told Polish news agency PAP.

Gomulka said that usually in January unemployment goes up by some 100,000. This year it went up by 160,000, which may attest to an economic slowdown.

(Xinhua News Agency February 25, 2009)