Eurozone Employment Grows In Q1

(RTTNews) - Eurozone employment grew for the second straight quarter in the first three months of the year, figures from Eurostat showed Friday.

The number of employed rose 0.1 percent from the fourth quarter of 2013, when there was a similar gain. In the third quarter of 2013, the reading was flat.

Year-on-year, the number of employed increased 0.2 percent in the first quarter, after a 0.4 percent slump in the previous three months.

In the first quarter, the number of employed in the euro area totaled 146.1 million.

In the EU 28, jobs grew 0.2 percent sequentially in the first quarter, same as in the previous three months. The annual job growth was 0.7 percent, following stagnation in the fourth quarter of last year.

Among EU members, Hungary and Latvia logged the biggest increases in employment in the first quarter, while the figure declined in Cyprus, Portugal, Lithuania, Finland and Italy.