Statistics in Focus: Population and social conditions. 1998 1.5% EMPLOYMENT GROWTH IN THE E.U.. 1999.4

Abstract

The number of those employed in the European Union (EU-15) in the last quarter of 1998 rose by approximately 2.3 millions, an increase of 1.5% on the previous year. The rise is similar in the Eurozone representing around 1.7 million extra jobs. There is a particular strong rise in the rate of employment in Luxembourg (4.7%), Portugal (4.3%) and Spain (3.3%), France corresponds to the community average whereas the United Kingdom (1.1%), Italy (0.9%), Austria (0.6%) and Germany (0.5%) are below this average. The increase in employment has been continually accelerating since the second quarter of 1997 and has averaged 0.5% per year. The United Kingdom was already experiencing rising employment which explains why the rates of increase are higher for EU-15 than for the Euro-zone. However this difference has decreased throughout 1998 and at the end of 1998 the United Kingdom's rate of employment increase has slowed.