Tuesday 17th August 2021 - 10:22 (BST)
Initial estimates by the Eurostat have indicated that the Eurozone economy returned to growth over the second quarter of 2021, moving it out of its recent technical recession and immediately strengthening the euro.
The readings showed a 2% growth across the region, representing a record yearly productivity increase of 13.6% and a stark contrast to the previous two quarters of contraction.
The sharpest increases were seen in Portugal with 4.9% growth and Austria's 4.3% growth, both countries benefitting from an uptick in tourism and the roll-out of effective coronavirus vaccination programmes. Germany and France’s figures were more subdued with a respective 1.5% and 0.9% increase from the first quarter of this year.
There were further economic green-shoots as European employment inched up 0.5% over the last three months, also bucking the recent trend and representing an improvement of 1.8% for the year so far.
Elsewhere, figures out of the UK showed unemployment fell to 4.7% over Q2 2021 and now sits 0.8% higher than pre-pandemic levels. Average earnings also grew at record pace over the same timeframe, jumping 8.8% as access to skilled labour remains a challenge.
