Analytics, Employment, EU – Baltic States, Labour-market, Markets and Companies

Similar to Latvia, Belgium also saw a 0.1% increase in employment. Meanwhile, in France it remained unchanged.

Meanwhile, the steepest year-on-year increase was recorded in Hungary – 3.2%, followed by Malta – 2.8%, as well as Lithuania and Ireland – 2.3% each.

The Eurostat data does not coincide exactly with the Statistics Estonia numbers, as there are a number of differences in the calculations.

However, the Statistics Estonia office announced in mid-May that for the first time since 2010, the number of people employed decreased as compared to the same time the previous year. Employed people were estimated to be 606,000, which was lower than both in the previous quarter and the same period last year. The employment of 15-74-year-olds was in the first quarter 61.1%, by 0.1 percentage points higher than a year ago.

Eurostat estimates that 224.2 million men and women were employed in the EU in the first quarter of 2014, of which 146.1 million were employed in the euro area.

In comparison with the same quarter of 2013, employment increased 0.7% in the EU and 0.3% in the euro area in the first quarter of 2014.

Compared with the fourth quarter of 2013, employment increased 0.2% in the EU and by 0.1% the euro area in the first quarter of 2014.

The number of employed persons increased 0.8% in Latvia in the first quarter of 2014, compared to the fourth quarter of 2013, the second largest increase among all EU countries for which data are available.

The steepest quarter-on-quarter increases were registered in Hungary – 1.5%, Latvia, Great Britain – 0.6%, as well as the Czech Republic and Poland – 0.5% each.

The largest quarter-on-quarter reductions were recorded in Cyprus – 1.2%, Portugal – 0.3%, and Lithuania and Finland – 0.2%.