News
BackThe world economic crisis, which affected all Member States as a consequence of the heavy turbulences in the financial sector, made a very different impact on the employment situation across Europe. Austria for example belongs to that group of countries, where job cuts were far less severe than the recession itself.
This is the tenor of the report "Employment in Europe 2010", which the European Commission presented last week. The stability of the labour markets during the crisis is also partly based on the general economic conditions, which prevailed in the respective countries before the recession. However, EU Employment Commissioner László Andor named the various labour market policy measures, which the Member States had taken, to be the decisive factor.
Three examples
In Austria, Germany and Belgium, the fall in GDP was absorbed by temporarily reducing the working hours of existing jobs. Andor praised this model of short time work as forward looking and a good basis for the emerging recovery. Furthermore, adjustments of the average productivity per working hour contributed to a comparatively slight decrease of the employment level in all three countries. In Austria for example, the unemployment rate for 2009 was at 4.8 %, in the EU it was almost double.
At the other end of the scale are Spain, Portugal and Ireland, where the fall in output was almost exclusively compensated by job losses. In some cases, the rise in unemployment was even larger than the recession. The drastic impact in these countries may also be explained by the fact that a relatively high proportion of the labour force had been working in the construction industry. This sector was hardest hit during the crisis, not least because of the bursting of the property bubble.
In between is a group of countries, which also include the UK and the Netherlands, where the fall in GDP was mainly compensated by productivity adjustments and to a lesser degree by job losses. As a result, here too their employment levels shrank less than their output.
This picture would also emerge when one looked at the EU-27 at a whole; that is why the European Union compared favourably with the USA, said Andor. Overall, the rise in unemployment was remaining static, a reason for Andor to give an optimistic view.
Post-2010
The Commissioner talked about a phasing out of the crisis-related labour market policy in 2010 and 2011 respectively. Afterwards the target of achieving an EU-wide employment rate of 75 % by 2020 had to be given priority again. The report urges the countries to drive forward structural labour market reforms in agreement with the social partners. As usual, the keyword Flexicurity is setting the agenda for recommendations.
Further information:
Press release of the Commission Employment in Europe report 2010
On the Employment in Europe report 2010 with numerous country statistics
Three examples
In Austria, Germany and Belgium, the fall in GDP was absorbed by temporarily reducing the working hours of existing jobs. Andor praised this model of short time work as forward looking and a good basis for the emerging recovery. Furthermore, adjustments of the average productivity per working hour contributed to a comparatively slight decrease of the employment level in all three countries. In Austria for example, the unemployment rate for 2009 was at 4.8 %, in the EU it was almost double.
At the other end of the scale are Spain, Portugal and Ireland, where the fall in output was almost exclusively compensated by job losses. In some cases, the rise in unemployment was even larger than the recession. The drastic impact in these countries may also be explained by the fact that a relatively high proportion of the labour force had been working in the construction industry. This sector was hardest hit during the crisis, not least because of the bursting of the property bubble.
In between is a group of countries, which also include the UK and the Netherlands, where the fall in GDP was mainly compensated by productivity adjustments and to a lesser degree by job losses. As a result, here too their employment levels shrank less than their output.
This picture would also emerge when one looked at the EU-27 at a whole; that is why the European Union compared favourably with the USA, said Andor. Overall, the rise in unemployment was remaining static, a reason for Andor to give an optimistic view.
Post-2010
The Commissioner talked about a phasing out of the crisis-related labour market policy in 2010 and 2011 respectively. Afterwards the target of achieving an EU-wide employment rate of 75 % by 2020 had to be given priority again. The report urges the countries to drive forward structural labour market reforms in agreement with the social partners. As usual, the keyword Flexicurity is setting the agenda for recommendations.
Further information:
Press release of the Commission Employment in Europe report 2010
On the Employment in Europe report 2010 with numerous country statistics