Eurozone: employment hits record on quarter

Statistics agency Eurostat said 234.2m people were in work across the EU between January and March, of which 154.8m were in the eurozone area.
Employment grew by 1.5 percent on average in the eurozone and by 1.4 percent in the EU. Compared to the previous quarter, employment grew 0.4 percent in both the euro area and the EU during the first quarter of 2017.
Eurostat had previously estimated increases of 0.3 percent on the quarter and 1.1 percent on the year.

The highest on-year employment growth was recorded in Malta, Ireland and Cyprus, at six, 3.5 and 3.4 percent, respectively. The biggest decrease, meanwhile, was recorded in Latvia at 2.8 percent, followed by Lithuania and Romania with a 0.4 percent decline each.

Eurozone industrial production increased for the second straight month in April, in line with expectations, which rose by 1.4% in both the eurozone and EU, compared with a 2.2% increase in March.

In April 2017 compared with March 2017, seasonally adjusted industrial production rose by 0.5% in the euro area (EA19) and by 0.2% in the EU28, according to estimates from Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.

In March 2017 industrial production rose by 0.2% in euro area and by 0.3% in the EU28.

In April 2017 compared with April 2016, industrial production increased by 1.4% in both the euro area and the EU28. Among components, energy production grew the most by 4.7 percent over the month. Production of durable consumer goods rose 0.6 percent, while those of capital goods registered a decline of 0.7 percent.

2017 first-quarter employment growth or decline by EU member state. Source: (Eurostat)