In the second quarter of 2019, GDP had grown by 0.2% in both zones. Compared with the same quarter of the previous year, seasonally adjusted GDP rose by 1.2% in the euro area and by 1.4% in the EU28 in the third quarter of 2019, after also +1.2% and +1.4% respectively in the previous quarter.

In Cyprus GDP increased by 0.7% and 3.0% on a quarterly and annual basis respectively. In Greece GDPO increased by 0.6% and 2.3% on quarterly and annual basis respectively.

According to Eurostat, During the third quarter of 2019, GDP in the United States increased by 0.5% compared with the previous quarter (after also +0.5% in the second quarter of 2019). Compared with the same quarter of the previous year, GDP grew by 2.1% (after +2.3% in the previous quarter).

Among Member States for which data are available for the third quarter of 2019, Poland (+1.3%), Hungary (+1.1%) and Estonia (+1.0%) recorded the highest growth compared with the previous quarter, followed by Bulgaria, Croatia and Slovenia (all +0.8%). The lowest growth was observed in Germany, Italy and Austria (all +0.1%).

During the third quarter of 2019, household final consumption expenditure rose by 0.5% in both the euro area and in the EU28 (after +0.2% and +0.3% respectively in the previous quarter). Gross fixed capital formation increased by 0.3% in both zones (after +5.7% and +4.3% respectively). Exports increased by 0.4% in the euro area and 1.0% in the EU28 (after +0.2% and -0.5% respectively). Imports increased by 0.6% in the euro area and by 0.7% in the EU28 (after +2.8% and +0.5% respectively).

Household final consumption expenditure had a positive contribution to GDP growth in both the euro area and the EU28 (both +0.3 percentage points – pp) and the contribution from gross fixed capital formation was also positive (+0.1 pp in both zones). The contribution of the external balance to GDP growth was negative for the euro area and positive for the EU28, while the contribution of changes in inventories was negative for both zones (-0.1 pp for the euro area and -0.3 pp for the EU28).

Meanwhile the number of persons employed increased by 0.1% in both the euro area and the EU28 in the third quarter of 2019 compared with the previous quarter. In the second quarter of 2019, employment increased by 0.2% in the euro area and 0.3% in the EU28.

In Cyprus employment increased by 0.7% and 3.0% during the second quarter of 2019 (latest available date), in quarterly and annual basis.

In Greece employment decreased by -0.3% in quarterly basis, but increased by 1.6% annually during the third quarter.

Compared with the same quarter of the previous year, employment increased by 0.9% in the euro area and by 0.8% in the EU28 in the third quarter of 2019 (after +1.2% and +1.0% respectively in the second quarter of 2019). These data on employment provide a picture of labour input consistent with the output and income measure of national accounts.

Among Member States for which data are available for the third quarter of 2019, Estonia and Latvia (both +1.0%), Slovenia (+0.5%) and Belgium (+0.4%) recorded the highest growth compared with the previous quarter. The largest decreases were observed in Lithuania (-1.2%), Romania (-1.1%), Finland (-0.5%) and Greece (-0.3%).

Based on seasonally adjusted figures, Eurostat estimates that in the third quarter of 2019, 241.5 million people were employed in the EU28, of which 160.1 million were in the euro area. These are the highest levels of employment ever recorded in both areas. More specifically, the number of persons employed has increased by 11.4 million in the euro area and 17.4 million in the EU28 since the lowest level of employment after the financial crisis (2013 Q2 for euro area, 2013 Q1 for EU28).

The combination of GDP and employment data allows an estimation of labour productivity. The analysis of growth compared to the same quarter of the previous years shows that productivity growth (based on employed persons) fluctuated around 1% for both zones between 2013 and 2018. Following a decline in 2018, productivity growth remained close to zero for the euro area and slightly positive for the EU28 in the third quarter of 2019.

Source: In-Cyprus