Eurozone Q3 employment eases slightly; UK leads among major economies

Eurozone employment growth eased slightly in the third quarter of 2015 to 0.3%, according to figures released on Tuesday by Eurostat.

This compared with an upwardly revised increase of 0.4% for the previous quarter.

Year-on-year, growth in employment accelerated to 1.1%, after an advance of 1.0% in the second quarter and 0.9% for the first three months of 2015.

The UK was at the head of the pack among the European Union´s largest economies, with the number of new hires up by 0.4%. In the euro currency area, Ireland and Spain led the way, with increases of 0.6% in each case.

Italy saw employment expand by 0.4%, but in France it was only rose by 0.1%, while Germany rose 0.3%.

The unemployment rate fell to 10.7% from a peak of 12.1% in the second quarter of 2013 and a further improvement to 10.2% by the end of 2016 was to be expected, said Dr.Howard Archer, chief UK+European economist at IHS Global Insight.

On a seasonally adjusted basis for the third quarter, Eurostat estimated 229.8m people were employed in the EU's 28 member states, of which 151.5m were in the euro area.