The euro area economy grew by 12.5 percent in the third quarter compared to the previous quarter, reports the European statistical office Eurostat on the basis of a new estimate. This figure corresponds almost to an earlier estimate of the gross domestic product (GDP) of the euro area countries of 12.6 percent.
The third quarter of this year thus still showed by distance the strongest recovery ever measured since 1995. It should be noted that in the second quarter, when the economy was still heavily affected by the first COVID-19 lockdown, there was a contraction of almost 12 percent. On an annual basis, the contraction of the economy in the third quarter is 4.3 percent.
Of the euro countries, France, Spain and Italy showed the strongest recovery on a quarterly basis. In these countries, the coronaclap was also the largest. For the European Union as a whole, Eurostat reported quarterly growth of 11.5 percent and a minus of 4.2 percent compared to a year earlier.
Employment in the euro area increased by 1 percent on a quarterly basis, where an increase of 0.9 percent was previously recorded. For the European Union, Eurostat maintained the previous plus of 0.9 percent on a quarterly basis. These, too, were the strongest increases ever recorded. In the second quarter, there was still a 3 percent minus in the euro area countries and 2.8% in the European Union. On an annual basis, employment was still lower in the third quarter.