Employment in the euro area and across the Union rose in the third quarter

Employment in the euro area and across the Union rose in the third quarter

Employment in both the euro area and the European Union (EU) picked up in the third quarter, rising after declining in the previous three months due to measures to halt the spread of the new coronavirus. This was shown by the updated results of the European Statistical Council Eurostat. Specifically, the number of persons employed increased by 1% in the euro area and by 0.9% in the EU between July and September 2020 compared with the previous quarter. This was the strongest growth since the beginning of the records in 1995. In the second quarter of 2020, employment fell by 3% quarter on quarter in the euro area and by 2.8% in the EU. Year-on-year, employment fell by 2.3% in the euro area in the third quarter of 2020 (after declining by 3.1% in April-June) and by 2% in the EU (-2.9% in the previous quarter). Government job retention programs mitigated the negative impact of the pandemic on employment in the third quarter. At the same time, there was a significant change in the number of hours worked. According to Eurostat, hours worked increased by 14.8% quarter on quarter in the euro area and 11.9% in the EU in the third quarter of 2020. However, year-on-year, it fell by 4.5% in the Euroregion and by 3.7% in the Union as a whole. Among the EU Member States for which Eurostat data were available, Ireland (3.3%), Spain (3.1%) and Austria (3%) saw the sharpest growth in employment in the third quarter, compared with the previous quarter, with the largest declines in Lithuania (-1.9%), Romania (-1%) and Bulgaria (-0.5%). Eurostat estimates that in the third quarter of 2020, 205.2 million people were employed in the EU, of which 157.4 million in the euro area. In terms of the impact of the pandemic, employment in the euro area was 3.6 million or 2.2% lower in the third quarter than in the fourth quarter of 2019. Across the EU, 4.3 million or 2.1% fewer people were employed as at the end of last year before the outbreak. The number of hours worked was also 4.6% lower in the euro area and 3.6% in the EU in the third quarter of 2020 compared with the fourth quarter of 2019.