Euro zone Q3 employment falls, first time on record

The number of people with jobs fell in the euro zone in the third quarter against the previous three months for the first time on record, pulled down by falls in Spain, Portugal and Finland, data showed on Tuesday.

The European Union's statistics office said the number of employed fell by 0.1 percent of the workforce, or 80,000 people, in the July-September period against the second quarter to 146.1 million.

It was the first quarterly drop since the Eurostat records began in 1995.

The euro zone economy contracted by 0.2 percent in the third quarter after a similar shrinkage in the second, pulling the 15-member single currency area into its first recession.

In the whole European Union of 27 states, employment remained flat in the third quarter against the second at 226.7 million people.

Within the euro zone, employment fell 0.8 percent on the quarter in Spain, 0.7 percent in Portugal and 0.2 percent in Finland. Employment in the biggest economy, Germany, rose 0.3 percent on the quarter and was flat in France and Italy — the second and third biggest economies.

Outside the euro zone, the number of people with jobs fell 0.3 percent in Britain and 1.9 percent in Latvia.