(ANSA) - BRUSSELS - In the eurozone and in the EU-28 the employment rate continues to grow: in the third quarter 2017 it rose, repesctively, by 0.4% (same percentage in the previous quarter) and by 0.3% (down 0.5% compared to previous three months). Eurostat reported, underlining that the number of employed people hit a new record high in both areas: 236.3 million employed women and men in the EU, 156.3 in the eurozone.

Year on year, the employment rate increased by 1.7% in the eurozone and by 1.8% in the EU-28. The highest increases were recorded in Estonia ((up 1.3%), Croatia and Malta (up 1.1%) and Bulgaria (up 1%). The employment rate has fallen instead in Lithuania (down 0.5%) and Poland(down 0.3%), and remained stable in Romania and the United Kingdom.

In Italy, in the third quarter, the employment rate increased by 0.4% (same percentage in the previous one), and in line with the average. (ANSA).