BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Euro zone gross domestic product growth slowed in the last three months of 2022 but did stayed in positive territory, the EU’s statistics office confirmed on Tuesday, and employment rose more than expected, underlining the resilience of the labour market.
Eurostat said GDP in the 19 countries sharing the euro at the end of 2022 expanded 0.1% quarter-on-quarter for a 1.9% year-on-year rise. This was in line with the preliminary estimate on Jan 31, which showed the euro zone avoided a technical recession that had been expected earlier.
A flash estimate of employment showed the number of people with jobs in the euro zone increased by 0.4% quarter-on-quarter, twice as fast as expected by economists polled by Reuters, despite the slowing economic growth.
Year-on-year, employment growth was 1.5% in the last three months of 2022, Eurostat said.
(Reporting by Jan Strupczewski; editing by Philip Blenkinsop)
