In addition, modest developments in unit labour costs are a further key factor underpinning the current low rate of consumer price increases. The preliminary data released by EUROSTAT for the third quarter of 1998 showed euro areawide real GDP growth at 2.4%, thus reflecting some deceleration compared with the first half of the year, when output growth averaged 3%.
Growth has increasingly been driven by domestic demand rather than net exports in the course of 1998. Private consumption, in particular, has been robust, supported by growth in employment. However, unemployment in the euro area remains very high (at 13.8 million) and is declining only gradually.