Eurozone employment falls, first time on record

The number of people with jobs fell in the eurozone in the third quarter against the previous three months for the first time on record, pulled down by falls in Spain, Portugal and Finland, data showed yesterday.

The EU statistics office said the number of employed fell by 0.1 per cent of the workforce, or 80,000 people, in the July-September period against the second quarter to 146.1 million.

It was the first quarterly drop since the Eurostat records began in 1995.

The eurozone economy contracted by 0.2 per cent in the third quarter after a similar shrinkage in the second, pulling the 15-member single currency area into its first recession.

In the whole EU of 27 states, employment remained flat in the third quarter against the second at 226.7 million people.

Within the eurozone, employment fell 0.8 per cent on the quarter in Spain, 0.7 per cent in Portugal and 0.2 per cent in Finland. Employment in the biggest economy, Germany, rose 0.3 per cent on the quarter and was flat in France and Italy - the second and third biggest economies.

Outside the eurozone, the number of people with jobs fell 0.3 per cent in Britain and 1.9 per cent in Latvia.