Investment drives euro zone Q4 q/q GDP growth, employment up

Euro zone economic growth was driven mainly by investment and rising inventories over the last three months of 2021, data showed on Tuesday, as household consumption dropped because of another wave of COVID-19 infections.

The European Union’s statistics office Eurostat confirmed its earlier estimates that gross domestic product in the 19 countries sharing the euro rose 0.3% quarter-on-quarter and 4.6% year-on-year in the October-December period.

Investment added 0.7 percentage points to the quarterly growth number, inventories a further 0.3 points and government spending 0.1 points. However, household consumption subtracted 0.3 points and net trade took away another 0.6 points.

Year-on-year trade also made a negative contribution, but household consumption was the leading growth factor adding 2.8 points to the final growth figure, with investment adding 0.9 points, public spending another 0.6 points and inventories 0.8.

Employment in the last three months of 2021 continued to rise, increasing by 0.5% quarter on quarter and 2.2% year-on-year, Eurostat said.