Employment increased by 1.2% in the euro area and by 1.0% in the EU28 in the second quarter of 2019, when compared to the same period last year, according to data from Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.

When compared to the previous quarter, the number of persons employed increased by 0.2% in the euro area and by 0.3% in the EU28.

Based on seasonally adjusted figures, Eurostat estimates that in the second quarter of 2019, 241.4 million people were employed in the EU28, of which 160.0 million were in the euro area.

These are the highest levels of employment ever recorded in both areas. More specifically, the number of persons employed has increased by 11.2 million in the euro area and 17.3 million in the EU28 since the lowest level of employment after the financial crisis (2013 Q2 for euro area, 2013 Q1 for EU28).

Among member states for which data are available for the second quarter of 2019, Greece, Cyprus (both +0.7%), Poland, Slovenia (both +0.6%) and Italy (+0.5%) recorded the highest growth compared with the previous quarter.

The largest decreases were observed in Croatia (-1.6%) and Latvia (-1.1%).

Eurostat also published GDP figures for the second quarter.

When compared with the same quarter of the previous year, seasonally adjusted GDP rose by 1.2% in the euro area and by 1.4% in the EU28 in the second quarter of 2019.

When compared with the previous quarter, the seasonally adjusted GDP rose by 0.2% in both the euro area (EA19) and the EU28 during the second quarter of 2019.

Among member states for which data are available for the second quarter of 2019, Hungary (+1.1%) recorded the highest growth compared with the previous quarter, followed by Romania (+1.0%). Decreases were observed in the United Kingdom (-0.2%), Germany and Sweden (both -0.1%), while in Italy, growth stagnated.