The seasonally adjusted number of persons employed in the euro area (EA12) rose by 0.3% (423 000 persons) during the fourth quarter of 2006, according to provisional national accounts estimates published by Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Communities.

During the same period, the number of persons employed in the EU25 also grew by 0.3% (593 000 persons). In the third quarter of 2006, growth rates were also +0.3% in both zones.

Compared to the same quarter of the previous year, employment grew by 1.6% in both the euro area and the EU25 in the fourth quarter of 2006, after +1.5% in both zones in the third quarter of 2006.

Over the whole year 2006, employment grew by 1.4% (1 948 000 persons) in the euro area and by 1.5% (2 988 000 persons) in the EU25, compared to +0.8% and +0.9% respectively in 2005.

Eurostat estimates that, in the fourth quarter of 2006, 206.7 million men and women were employed in the EU25, of which 140.0 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.