Eurozone GDP rose 0.8% in the second quarter, two-tenths higher than expected

For the European Union (EU) as a whole, GDP growth estimated by the Community Statistics Office Between April and June it was 0.7%One-tenth less than the previous quarter, but one-tenth more than predicted.

GDP of 19 euro-sharing countries compared to the second quarter of 2021 grew 4.1%This represents a slowdown compared to the 5.4% growth recorded in the first quarter of the year. On their side, an expansion of 4.2% was observed among the 27, 1.3 percentage points less than the year-on-year increase in the previous quarter.

Eurostat emphasized that, by comparison, the US GDP contracted by 0.1% in the second quarter of the year after contracting by 0.4% in the previous three months. On an annual basis, the country’s expansion was 1.7%.

According to seasonally adjusted figures, the euro area economy closed the second quarter 1.8% above the level recorded in the fourth quarter of 2019, while the EU economy was 2.3 before any impact from the Covid-19 pandemic was seen in the West. % higher. In the case of the United States, GDP was 2.6% higher than before the pandemic.

between twenty-seven highest expansion rate GDP in the second quarter Holland (+2.6%), ahead Romania (+2.1%) and Croatia (+2%). On the contrary, one drop they occurred in Poland (-2.1%), Estonia (-1.3%), Latvia (-1%) and Lithuania (-0.5%).

In the case of Spain, GDP growth in the second quarter was 1.1% compared to 0.2% in the previous three months. Compared to the same quarter of 2021, the Spanish economy grew by 6.3% at the same pace as in the first quarter.

employment data

On the other hand, Eurostat this Wednesday, in the second quarter of 2022, The number of people employed in the euro area increased by 0.4% and in the EU as a whole compared to the previous quarter. In both cases, the office revised the data up one-tenth from its previous estimate.

Despite the improvement in the forecast, this is a slowdown in data, as employment growth in the euro area in the first quarter of the year was 0.7%, compared to 0.5% in the community bloc.

Compared to the same quarter of the previous year, employment increased by 2.7% in the euro area, by four-tenths compared to the previous quarter, and by 2.4%, five-tenths in the EU.

Between April and June, Hours worked in the euro area increased by 0.6% compared to the first quarter and 3.7% over the previous year. Hours worked in the EU increased by 0.5% and 3% compared to the second quarter of 2021.

In the second quarter of 2022, Lithuania (+3.1%), Czech Republic and Ireland (+1.6%) were the EU countries that recorded the highest growth in employment compared to the previous quarter. The only decreases were in Spain (-1.1%), Portugal (-0.7%), Estonia (-0.6%), Romania (-0.5%) and Croatia (-0.4%).

Based on seasonally adjusted figures, Eurostat estimates that a total of 213.4 million people were employed in the EU in the second quarter of 2022, of which 164.1 million were in the euro area.

Thus, the number of people employed in the euro area in the second quarter of 2022 was 2.7 million higher than in the fourth quarter of 2019 before the Covid-19 pandemic, while in the EU as a whole it was 3.5 million. above this level.