Bulgaria is among the member states of the European Union (EU) with the strongest employment growth in the third quarter of the year compared to the second three months. This is the data of the European statistical office Eurostat, published today.

The increase in employment in the country has reached 1.0% in the period July-September compared to the second quarter of 2017. Growth is 2.7% on an annual basis.

In front of Bulgaria, with the strongest employment growth, was only Estonia with 1.3% and Croatia and Malta 1.1%.

As for the EU as a whole, the region's average quarterly employment growth is 0.3%, showing a slight slowdown compared to the previous quarter when the increase was 0.5%. On an annual basis, growth rose from 1.8% to 1.7% in the second quarter of the year.

The average quarterly employment growth in the euro area compared to the April-June period was 0.4%, remaining unchanged compared with the previous three months. On an annual basis, the increase is 1.7%.

For the quarter, Greece (0.1%), France and Finland (0.2%) recorded the slightest employment growth. At the same time, however, there are two countries with a drop in employment - Lithuania (-0.5%) and Poland (-0.3%), while in Romania and the United Kingdom it has remained unchanged.

On an annual basis, Romania recorded the largest quarterly growth (5.3%), followed by Malta (4.9%) and Cyprus (3.5%). Latvia (0.4%) and Finland (0.5%) recorded the slightest rise and Lithuania declined by 0.8%.

According to Eurostat estimates in the third quarter, the total number of EU employees reached 236.3 million, of which 156.3 million are citizens of the euro area countries. The number of employees is record high for both regions.