Euro area hiring at highest level since last quarter of 2008

Hiring in the single currency bloc reached its second-highest level since late 2008 in the second quarter.

Employment in the Eurozone increased by 0.4% quarter-on-quarter to reach 153.3m and by 1.4% in comparison to the year-ago period, according to Eurostat.

Job growth was strongest in the Baltic republics of Estonia and Lithuania, increasing by 1.7% and 1.0% in the latest quarter.

Italy and Spain also registered large increases, with employment up by 0.5% in both geographies.

In Germany, employment grew by 0.3% and in France by 0.2%.

By industries, and in terms of quarterly rates of change, employment growth was strongest in agriculture, where it rose by 1.0%, while in professional serboces and trade and transport it increased by 0.7% and 0.6%, respectively.

Manufacturing employment however only grew by 0.1% and in construction by 0.2%.

"Ongoing solid Eurozone employment growth in the second quarter, coupled with still negligible inflation, is supportive to consumer spending, thereby fuelling hopes that consumers can make a decent contribution to Eurozone growth over the coming months.

"However, the June/July unemployment data hinted that the improvement in Eurozone labour markets may now be stuttering in reaction to the slowdown in Eurozone growth in the second quarter and increased business uncertainty over the outlook (reinforced by the UK’s Brexit vote. Eurozone unemployment dipped by a modest 43,000 in July which followed an increase of 24,000 in June, which had been the first increase in Eurozone unemployment since September 2014" said Dr. Howard Archer, chief European+UK economist at IHS Markit.