According to the Eurostat first estimate for the third quarter of 2012, the number of persons employed decreased by 0.2% in both the euro area and the EU compared with the previous quarter. Eurostat stressed that these quarterly data on employment provide a picture of labour input consistent with the output and income measure of national accounts.

Eurostat, the statistical office of the EU, published its first estimate for the third quarter of 2012 with regard to the employment. In particular, Eurostat says that according to national accounts estimates the number of persons employed decreased by 0.2% in both the euro area and the EU in the third quarter of 2012 compared with the previous quarter. For the first quarter of 2012, the employment decreased in the euro area and remained stable in the EU.

In the second quarter of 2012, employment was stable in the euro area and increased by 0.1% in the EU. Compared with the same quarter of the previous year, employment fell by 0.7% in the euro area and by 0.5% in the EU in the third quarter of 2012 (after -0.7% and -0.3% respectively in the second quarter of 2012).

The largest fall being recorded in construction (-1.5% in the euro area and -1.3% in the EU), although employment decreased in most sectors. Eurostat also estimates that, in the third quarter of 2012, 222.6 million men and women were employed in the EU, of which 146.0 million were in the euro area.