The number of people with a job in the 12-nation euro zone grew by a seasonally adjusted 0.4 percent in the second quarter of this year, the biggest quarter-on-quarter rise in three years, it emerged on Thursday.

The European Union (EU)'s statistical office Eurostat estimated that the number of employees in the euro zone increased by 557,000 in the second quarter to 139 million.

The rate of employment rose by 0.3 percent in the previous two quarters in the euro zone.

Compared with the second quarter of last year, the employment rate in the euro zone grew by 1.2 percent in the second quarter, up from a one percent annual rise in the first quarter.

In the 25-nation EU, the number of employed grew by 0.3 percent to a total of 204.1 million in the second quarter.

Source: Xinhua