Employment in the Euro Area rose by 0.1% quarter-on-quarter to 176.308 million in the first quarter of 2026, easing from a 0.2% increase in the previous quarter and matching both market forecasts and the flash estimate. This marked the bloc’s 20th consecutive quarter of employment growth, underscoring a slow but steady expansion in the European labor market, even as elevated energy costs and weak productivity led to a contraction in Eurozone GDP over the period.
Job creation remained robust in Italy (0.4%, unchanged from Q4) and solid in Spain (0.3%, though down from 0.8% in Q4), but was flat again in France (following another stagnation in Q4) and declined for a third consecutive quarter in Germany (-0.1%, the same rate as in Q4). On an annual basis, employment increased by 0.5% in the first quarter, the weakest pace since the post-pandemic recovery in 2021.
