Seasonally adjusted GDP rose by 0.6% in the euro area and by 0.7% in the European Union in the first quarter of 2022, compared with the fourth quarter of 2021, according to the estimate published by the EU statistical office (Eurostat) on Wednesday 8 June.
Ireland (+10.8%) recorded the highest wealth creation compared to the previous quarter, followed by Romania (+5.2%) and Latvia (+3.6%). Decreases were registered in Sweden (-0.8%), France (-0.2%) and Denmark (-0.1%). Growth was 0.1% in Italy, 0.2% in Germany and 0.3% in Spain.
In the fourth quarter of 2021, GDP increased by 0.2% in the euro area and by 0.5% in the EU. On a seasonally adjusted basis, it is 0.8% for the euro area and 1.5% for the EU above the level of the fourth quarter of 2019, i.e. before the Covid-19 pandemic.
Employment. In the first quarter of 2022, the number of persons employed increased by 0.6% in the euro area and by 0.5% in the EU compared to the previous quarter.
Estonia (+3.5%), Latvia (+2.1%) and Portugal (+1.7%) recorded the highest increase in the number of people working. In contrast, employment fell in Poland (-0.6%) and Croatia (-0.1%).
Eurostat estimates that 212 million people were employed in the EU in the first quarter, of whom 162.9 million were in the euro area.
In relation to the pandemic, employment measured in numbers of people in the euro area was 1.6 million above the level of Q4 2019 and 2.2 million above that level in the EU. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)