Euro zone employment rose by 0.4 per cent in the first quarter of 2007 compared with the final three months of last year as 533,000 people found jobs, the European Union statistics office said today.
Eurostat's seasonally adjusted figures showed employment in the 13 countries using the euro increased by 1.4 per cent in the first quarter from the same period of 2006, with the total number of employed reaching 141.6 million.
Earlier figures showed the euro zone's unemployment rate fell to a record low of 7.1 per cent in April after the area's economy grew by 0.6 per cent in the first quarter of 2007, compared with the last three months of 2006.
Employment in the whole 27-nation EU rose 0.3 per cent on a quarterly basis for an annual gain of 1.2 per cent, Eurostat said.