Lithuania Leads EU Q1 Employment Growth at 1.8% as EU Jobs Rise 0.5%
Updated
Updated · delfi.lt · Jun 5
Lithuania Leads EU Q1 Employment Growth at 1.8% as EU Jobs Rise 0.5%
1 articles · Updated · delfi.lt · Jun 5
Summary
Lithuania posted the EU’s strongest quarter-on-quarter employment gain in Q1 2026, up 1.8%, ahead of Malta at 1.0% and Estonia at 0.9%.
EU employment reached 221.2 million people and euro-area employment 176.3 million, with both regions recording 0.5% annual growth, slower than in Q4 2025.
Romania logged the steepest quarterly employment drop at 1.0%, followed by Ireland at 0.8% and Portugal at 0.4%.
Hours worked fell 0.2% from the previous quarter in both the EU and euro area, though they were still up 0.4% from a year earlier, pointing to softer labor input than headline job counts suggest.