The number of persons employed in the euro area (EA15) fell by 0.3% (453 000 persons) in the fourth quarter of 2008 compared with the previous quarter, according to national accounts estimates published by Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Communities.

In the same period, the number of persons employed in the EU27 also decreased by 0.3% (672 000 persons). In the third quarter of 2008, employment declined by 0.1% in the euro area and by 0.2% in the EU27. These figures are seasonally adjusted.

Compared with the same quarter of the previous year, employment remained stable (0.0%) in both the euro area and the EU27 in the fourth quarter of 2008, after +0.6% in both areas in the third quarter of 2008.

Over the whole year of 2008, employment grew by 0.8% (1 137 000 persons) in the euro area and also by 0.8% (1 760 000 persons) in the EU27, compared with +1.8% in both zones in 2007.

Eurostat estimates that, in the fourth quarter of 2008, 225.3 million men and women were employed in the EU27, of which 145.4 million were in the euro area. These figures are seasonally adjusted.

These quarterly data on employment provide a picture of labour input consistent with the output and income measures of national accounts.