Romania also registered a 1.7% decrease in the number of employees in the first quarter, compared with January-March 2014, the statistics office Eurostat said.
In the euro area, the number of employees rose 0.8% in the second quarter, compared with the same period a year before.
In the first quarter, the number of employees rose 1% in EU and 0.8% in the euro area, compared with January-March 2014.
The highest employment growths, compared with the second quarter of 2014, were registered by Ireland (3%), Spain (2.9%), Luxembourg (2.5%) and Hungary (2.4%).
Eurostat estimates that, in the second quarter of 2015, 228.8 million men and women were employed in the EU, of which 151 million were in the euro area. The figures are seasonally adjusted.
The number of persons employed increased by 0.3 % in the euro area and by 0. 2% in the EU in the second quarter of 2015 compared with the previous quarter.
Portugal (+1.3%) and Greece ( + 1.2%) recorded the highest increases in the second quarter of 2015 compared with the previous quarter , followed by Ireland and Spain ( both +0.9%), Estonia (+0. 8 %) , Luxembourg and Slovakia (both +0.7%). Decreases were recorded in Finland (- 0.3%), the United Kingdom (- 0.2%) , Bulgaria and Lithuania (both – 0.1%).
For Romania, there was no available data regarding the variation of the number of employees in the second quarter compared with the previous quarter.
In the first quarter, the number of employees rose by 0.2% in euro zone and by 0.3% in EU, compared with the fourth quarter of 2014.