Number of people employed drops in Europe

BRUSSELS, June 14 (UPI) -- The European Commission's data office said Friday that employment dropped in the eurozone and the larger European Union in the first quarter.

In the 17-member eurozone, employment declined 0.5 percent compared to the previous quarter with 145.1 million people employed in the currency region.

In the 27-member EU, which encompasses the eurozone, there were 221.9 million people employed in the first quarter, the agency said. That is 0.2 percent less than the fourth quarter of 2012.

From the same period a year earlier, employment is down 0.1 percent in the eurozone and 0.4 percent in the EU, Eurostat said.