Seasonally-adjusted employment in 19-country eurozone in the fourth quarter of 2015 rose by 0.3 percent compared with the previous quarter, official data showed on Tuesday. In the wider 28-member European Union (EU), employment saw a quarterly increase of 0.1 percent.
The figures suggested that the bloc's labor market continued to recover despite doing so at quite a slower pace. In the third quarter of 2015, employment increased by 0.3 percent in both zones. Therefore, the number of total employed persons continued to increase.
A total of 151.9 million people in the single currency bloc were employed from October to December 2015, and the number reached 229.9 million across the continent, EU's statistical agency Eurostat said in a press release. Year-on-year, growth in employment accelerated to 1.2 percent in the eurozone, and to 1.0 percent in the EU, after an advance of 1.1 percent and 1.0 percent respectively in the third quarter of 2015.
Among member states, there was a notable improvement in Malta, where employment rose by 1.8 percent, compared with the previous quarter. However, falls were recorded in three countries. Estonia saw a decrease of 2.4 percent and employment in Britain and Lithuania declined 1.0 percent and 0.3 percent respectively.
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