国际英语新闻：Eurozone employment falls by 0.5% in third quarter

BRUSSELS, Dec. 14 (Xinhua) -- The employment rate in the eurozone went down by 0.5 percent in the third quarter of 2009 compared with the previous quarter, first estimates of the official EU statistics agency Eurostat showed on Monday.

    Seasonally adjusted figures showed that in the third quarter of 2009 compared with the previous quarter, employment rate in the eurozone went down by 0.5 percent (representing 712,000 persons). The same declining trend was recorded during the same period in the whole of the EU with also a 0.5 percent (representing 1,019,000 persons) decrease.

    While all sectors of the economy recorded a decrease in employment, other services, which mainly include public administration, health and education, grew by 0.3 percent in the eurozone and by 0.2 percent in the EU.

    Decreases were registered in many industries such as construction where the fall was by 2.0 percent and 1.9 percent respectively in the eurozone and the EU.

    In both areas manufacturing industry went down by 1.7 percent and by 1.6 percent respectively. Agriculture also declined by 1.1 percent and 0.4 percent; financial services & business activities were not saved and fell by 0.5 percent and 0.4 percent; and finally, trade, transport & communication services suffered a 0.1 percent and minus 0.2 percent decrease.

    Compared with the same quarter of the previous year, employment fell by 2.1 percent in the eurozone and by 2.0 percent in the EU in the third quarter of 2009. In the second quarter of 2009, employment decreased by 1.8 percent and 1.7 percent respectively on a yearly basis.

    Eurostat estimates that, in the third quarter of 2009, 221.6 million men and women were employed in the EU, among which 144.8 million were in the euro area. These figures are seasonally adjusted.