In the third quarter this year, the number of persons employed in the euro area rose by 0.2 percent while employment in the European Union (EU-28) was up by 0.2 percent, both compared with the previous quarter, according to national accounts estimates published by Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Union.
In the third quarter, employment increased by 1.2 percent in the euro area and by 1.1 percent in the EU-28 compared with the same quarter of the previous year. In the second quarter of 2016, the seasonally adjusted employment rate had moved up by 0.4 percent in the euro area and 0.3 percent in the EU-28, year on year.
In the third quarter of the current year, the largest quarter-on-quarter increases were recorded in Portugal (+1.3%), Spain (+0.8%), Luxembourg (+0.7%) and Ireland, Cyprus and Slovakia (all +0.6%), while the largest quarter-on-quarter decreases were seen in Latvia (-1.5%), Estonia (-1.0%) and Bulgaria (-0.7%).