Record Drop In Euro-Zone Employment During 1Q

inspector_monkfish

11:37 15Jun09 Record Drop In Euro-Zone Employment During 1Q



LONDON--The number of people in work in the 16 countries that use the euro fell by 1.2 million during the first three months of 2009, the largest decline since records began in 1995, data showed Monday.

The number of active workers in the euro zone fell by 0.8% in the first quarter, according to data released by the European Union statistics agency Eurostat. It was the third straight quarter in which employment fell, and marked a substantial pick-up in the rate of job losses. In the fourth quarter of 2008, employment fell by 0.4% on the quarter, while in the third quarter it fell by 0.2%.

Compared with the first quarter of 2008, employment in the first quarter of 2009 was down 1.2%.

Of those euro-zone members for which numbers are available, Spain suffered by far the largest drop in employment, down 3.1% from the fourth quarter of 2008 and down 6.4% compared with the first quarter of that year.

In the European Union as a whole, 1.9 million fewer people were in work than in the fourth quarter, a decline of 0.8%. Lithuania recorded the largest drop in active workers, a fall of 4.5%.

There have been indications recently that the pace of the economic
contraction in the euro zone has eased in the second quarter, although it's not clear that the first quarter will mark the high point for job losses. Some recent surveys have indicated that the rate at which businesses are cutting jobs eased in May.

However, it's clear employment will continue to fall. Indeed, finance
ministers from the Group of Eight leading industrialized nations - which includes euro-zone members Germany, France and Italy - Saturday said unemployment may continue to increase "even after output growth begins picking up."