The euro area economy shrank less than previously estimated in the first quarter, revised data from Eurostat showed on Tuesday.
Gross domestic product fell 0.3 percent sequentially in the first quarter, following a 0.6 percent drop in the fourth quarter. The decline for the first quarter was revised down from -0.6 percent.
Year-on-year, GDP declined 1.3 percent versus a 4.7 percent fall in the previous quarter. According to previous estimate, GDP was down 1.8 percent.
The expenditure-side breakdown showed that household spending dropped 2.3 percent on quarter and government spending remained flat in the first quarter. Meanwhile, gross fixed capital formation grew 0.2 percent.
At the same time, exports gained 1 percent and imports grew 0.9 percent. The changes in inventories contributed 0.7 percentage points to GDP.
Further, data showed that in the first quarter, 157.6 million people were employed in the euro area. In relation to the COVID-19 pandemic, employment in persons was 3.4 million in the euro area below the level of the fourth quarter of 2019.
Employment decreased 0.3 percent sequentially in the first quarter and by 1.8 percent from the same period of last year.
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