Euro-area growth confirmed at 0.4% as employment stalls
A new Eurostat estimate kept third-quarter GDP growth at 0.4% from the previous quarter. Employment was unchanged in both the euro area and the wider EU.
The euro-area economy expanded 0.4% in the third quarter from the previous three months, Eurostat confirmed Friday. The estimate was unchanged from the preliminary reading published October 30.
Growth slowed from 0.6% in the second quarter. Compared with the same quarter a year earlier, euro-area gross domestic product rose 1.3%, after annual growth of 1.2% in the previous quarter.
The wider European Union grew 0.5% from the second quarter and 1.5% from a year earlier. These are seasonally adjusted figures. The quarterly changes are not annualized growth rates.
The new employment estimate showed no change in the number of employed people from the previous quarter in either the euro area or the EU. Employment was 0.4% higher than a year earlier in both areas.
The release adds a labour-market measure to the earlier GDP estimate: output continued to grow, but employment did not rise quarter to quarter. These flash estimates remain subject to revision; they are not a final account of the quarter.
