Growth in the euro area has been revised upwards slightly to 2.2% in the second quarter compared to the first, according to a new Eurostat estimate released on Tuesday.
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The European economy returned to strong growth from April to June, benefiting from progress in vaccination against Covid-19 and a gradual lifting of health restrictions. The previous estimate for the 19 countries sharing the single currency was 2%. In the last quarter of 2020 and the first quarter of 2021, the bloc suffered a recession with Gross Domestic Product (GDP) down 0.4% and 0.3% respectively.
For the EU as a whole, GDP grew by 2.1% in the second quarter, against an initial estimate of 1.9%.
This rebound follows a decline of 0.2% and then 0.1% during the two previous quarters.
The improvement in growth has had repercussions on the labor market, with the number of people in employment up 0.7% between April and June in the euro area, as in the EU, figures also revised slightly up.
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However, the euro area economy remains 2.5% below its highest level in the fourth quarter of 2019, before the outbreak of Covid-19.
That of the EU remains 2.2% below, while the GDP of the United States has already exceeded its pre-crisis level by 0.8% in the spring.