Spain has fastest rising job rate in EU in 2007

13 June 2007

BRUSSELS – More than half a million people found work in the 13 nations that use the euro during the first three months of the year, the EU statistical agency Eurostat said Wednesday.

The number of workers grew by 533,000 _ or 0.4 percent _ from the last quarter of 2006, it said, and 1.4 percent from a year ago.

Across the entire 27-member European Union, 612,000 people found jobs as employment grew 0.3 percent from the last quarter or 1.2 percent year-on-year.

Overall, Eurostat said 141.6 million people were working in the euro area in the first quarter and there were 220.4 million workers in the EU as a whole.

Among the EU’s bigger economies over the quarter, Germany, Spain and France added jobs while Britain and Italy saw the number of workers fall slightly. Compared with the same quarter last year, German employment climbed 1.5 percent, the Spanish rate rose 3 percent and France was up 0.2 percent. Britain rose 0.3 percent and Italy by 0.2 percent.

Eurostat figures are seasonally adjusted.

[Copyright AP with Expatica]

Subject: Spanish news