Eurozone’s GDP decreases 3.8 percent in Q1, while employment drops 0.2 percent

Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union (EU), reported on Friday its second estimates showed that Eurozone GDP fell by 3.8 percent q-o-q in the first quarter of 2020, unchanged from the previous estimates. That was the steepest drop observed since time series started in 1995. In the fourth quarter of 2019, the GDP rose by 0.1 percent q-o-q.

In y-o-y terms, Eurozone's economy decreased by 3.3 percent in the first quarter compared to -3.3 percent in the previous estimate and +1.0 percent in the prior three-month period. That was the sharpest decline since the third quarter of 2009.

Economists had forecast that both final quarterly and annual rates of the GDP growth would be left unrevised.

The report noted that the Member States began to introduce widely COVID-19 containment measures in March, the final month of the period covered. Among the bloc's largest economies, Germany (-2.2 percent q-o-q), France (-5.8 percent q-o-q), Spain (-5.2 percent q-o-q) and Italy (-4.7 percent q-o-q) shrank the most on record.

The report also revealed that employment in Eurozone in the first quarter decreased by 0.2 percent q-o-q, recording its first decline since the second quarter of 2013, but increased 0.3 percent y-o-y. In the previous quarter, the number of persons employed rose 0.3 percent q-o-q and 1.1 percent y-o-y. Economists had forecast a 0.4 percent q-o-q drop and a 0.2 percent y-o-y gain for the first quarter.