The economy in the Eurozone and the European Union is improving again, and the number of workers is rising

In a preliminary estimate, economists expected eurozone GDP to rise by just 0.2%. Compared to the first quarter of 2021, the seasonally adjusted GDP in the eurozone increased by 5.1 percent. Economists there expected 5% growth. In the European Union, GDP growth was 5.2 percent year on year.

In comparison, the US GDP in the first quarter of 2022 decreased by 0.4 percent compared to the fourth quarter of 2021. On an annual basis, GDP in the first quarter of 2022 increased by 3.6 percent.

Compared to the previous quarter, the number of employed people in the euro area increased by 0.5 percent, in the European Union by 0.4 percent. On an annual basis, the number of employed people in the Eurozone increased by 2.6 percent. In the European Union, the increase was 2.5 percent.

The eurozone comprises nineteen countries with Belgium, Germany, Estonia, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Italy, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Austria, Portugal, Slovenia, Slovakia, and Finland. In the European Union, those member states are joined by Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Croatia, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Sweden.