Good news for the European economy. The number of job seekers has fallen to 7.2%, the lowest level ever recorded since Eurostat was launched in 1993.
Soucres : FT : Eurozone unemployment falls
Soucres : FT : Eurozone unemployment falls
Economy Euro-zone unemployment at its lowest since 1993
- Thread starter Maciamo
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Robespierre7
Junior Member
May the Lisbon-Goteborg strategy be efficient ?
the main reasons, for this recovery are two fold
in one hand there is the papy-boom which is sending more and more people to the retirement thus reducing the unemployement rate.
in the other side there is the recovery of germany, which should never had been into this recession if they hadn't been so selfish. Some facts; in 1989 when the berlin wall falls, against all the advices of the other european countries, germany decides to do the reunification. This was a big mistake because at that time there was a changing rate of 1 west deutsch mark for 3 east deutsch mark. This difference of value of the two moneys made the reunification very expensive which sent germany (and europe) into a 18 year recession (not yet finished according to me).
But germany is recovering now from this reunification and as it is the biggest economy they will trail all the other european economies with them in the good direction.
in one hand there is the papy-boom which is sending more and more people to the retirement thus reducing the unemployement rate.
in the other side there is the recovery of germany, which should never had been into this recession if they hadn't been so selfish. Some facts; in 1989 when the berlin wall falls, against all the advices of the other european countries, germany decides to do the reunification. This was a big mistake because at that time there was a changing rate of 1 west deutsch mark for 3 east deutsch mark. This difference of value of the two moneys made the reunification very expensive which sent germany (and europe) into a 18 year recession (not yet finished according to me).
But germany is recovering now from this reunification and as it is the biggest economy they will trail all the other european economies with them in the good direction.
Two very valid points. When you listen to the media, they often try to make us think that unemployment is only linked to the health of the world economy, and especially the US economy. I believe that the current decrease in unemployment in Europe is mainly due to your first point : the retirement of baby boomers.
Robespierre7
Junior Member
The European Commission prefers the employment rate to the unemployment rate. It is 65,7 %, still far from the 70% Lisbon strategy’s target. Its rise cannot be mainly due to the exogenous phenomenon of the retirement of baby boomers. The structural reforms led by reformist governments everywhere in Europe have managed to improve the flexibility of the labour market. For instance thanks to the Prodi government’s reform the Italian unemployment rate stood to 5,9% in June 2007. Everywhere expect in France.
I am not sure that a high employment rate is necessarily a better thing than a low unemployment rate. Unemployment gives the percentage of the active population looking for a job (so probably unhappy and not financially satisfied).
However, a country could very well have close to 0% unemployment and still have only 60 or 70% of the active population in employment. This is mainly because some people do not need to work to make money, such as investors, land owners, or overly rich people. So if we take two countries with an equal GDP per capita and an equal uneployment rate, we can deduce that the one with the lower employment rate 1) is more productive AND 2) has a richer population living off their savings, properties or various investments.
Miles77
Junior Member
What programs did Sarkozy launch to reduce the unemployment rate that much?
Several things, such as :
- reducing red tape for setting up a company (to encourage entrepreneurialism)
- making all overtime work tax-free (to motivate people to work more, earn more, and therefore also spend more, boosting the economy)
- making it more difficult to obtain social security if you do not try hard enough to find a job
- making it easier for companies to fire staff, so that they are not too reluctant to recruit new people
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