The number of people employed in the Eurozone has fallen for the fourth quarter in a row. Figures released this morning show a fall of 0.5% in the numbers at work in the 17 Eurozone countries.

There has not been an increase in the number of people working in the Eurozone since the middle of 2011.

However Ireland has emerged as one of the better performers in Europe, with an increase of 0.5% in the number of people at work.

Compared with the same quarter of the previous year, Eurostat says employment fell by 1.0% in the Euro area and by 0.4% in the European Union as a whole in the second quarter of 2013.

Eurostat estimates that in this quarter 221.8 million men and women were employed across the EU27, of which 145 million were in the Eurozone.

Ireland, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Lithuania and Portugal all saw the highest growth rates in employment, while Cyprus, Spain, the Netherlands, Slovenia and Slovakia all saw the largest decreases.