The seasonally adjusted number of persons employed in the euro area(EA13) rose by 0.2% (270 000 persons) during the fourth quarter of 2007, according to provisional national accounts estimates published by Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Communities.

During the same period, the number of persons employed in the EU27 also grew by 0.2% (484 000 persons). In the third quarter of 2007, growth rates were +0.3% in both zones.

Compared with the same quarter of the previous year, employment grew by 1.7% in the euro area and by 1.5% in the EU27 in the fourth quarter of 2007, after +1.8% and +1.6% respectively in the third quarter of 2007.

Over the whole year 2007, employment increased by 1.7% (2 446 000 persons) in the euro area and by 1.6% (3 509 000 persons) in the EU27, compared to +1.5% in both zones in 2006.

Eurostat estimates that, in the fourth quarter of 2007, 224.2 million men and women were employed in the EU27, of which 144.3 million were in the euro area. These figures are seasonally adjusted.