Eurozone Employment Grows Further
2026-06-05 09:07
By
Andre Joaquim
1 min. read
The number of employed persons in the Euro Area grew by 0.1% from the previous quarter to 176.308 million in the first quarter of 2026, slowing from the 0.2% increase in the earlier quarter and aligned with both market expectations and the flash estimate.
It was the bloc's 20th consecutive quarter of employment growth, extending the slow but consistent trend of increasing jobs in the European labor market, even though high energy prices and sluggish productivity drove the Eurozone's GDP to contract in the period.
Job growth remained high in Italy (0.4% vs 0.4% in Q4) and Spain (0.3% vs 0.8%), but stalled in France (from another stall in Q4) and fell for a third quarter in Germany (-0.1% vs -0.1%).
From the previous year, employment levels grew 0.5% in the first quarter, the least since the Covid pandemic in 2021.