The number of persons employed decreased by 0.3% in the euro area (EA17) and by 0.2% in the EU27 in the fourth quarter of 2012 compared with the previous quarter, according to national accounts estimates published by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union. In the third quarter of 2012, employment decreased by 0.1% in the euro area and remained stable in the EU27. These figures are seasonally adjusted.

Compared with the same quarter of the previous year, employment fell by 0.8% in the euro area and by 0.4% in the EU27 in the fourth quarter of 2012 (after -0.6% and -0.4% respectively in the third quarter of 2012).

Over the whole year 2012, employment decreased by 0.7% in the euro area and by 0.4% in the EU27, compared with +0.3% in both zones in 2011.

Eurostat estimates that, in the fourth quarter of 2012, 222.6 million men and women were employed in the EU27, of which 145.7 million were in the euro area. These figures are seasonally adjusted.

Employment growth in Member States

Among Member States for which data are available, Latvia (+0.8%), Luxembourg (+0.6%), Poland (+0.4%), Hungary (+0.3%) and Austria (+0.2%) recorded the highest increases in the fourth quarter of 2012 compared with the previous quarter, and Lithuania and Portugal (both -2.0%), Bulgaria (-1.5%), Spain (-1.4%) and Cyprus (-1.3%) the highest decreases.