Unemployment in the euro zone rose to a new high in November 2013, according to data released by Eurostat. 18.8 million people in the euro zone were unemployed in November, two million more than a year earlier. A separate report from Eurostat showed that retail sales fell 2.6 per cent in November from a year earlier, though they gained 0.1 per cent from October. The Federal Statistics Office in Berlin reported that German exports declined 3.4 per cent while imports slid 3.7 per cent in November from a month earlier. Giving his annual report on employment trends, the report Employment and Social Developments in Europe 2013, European Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion Laszlo Andor said that 2013 has been another very bad year for Europe in terms of unemployment and the deteriorating social situation. A new divide is emerging between countries that seem trapped in a downward spiral of falling output, fast rising unemployment and eroding disposable incomes and those that have so far shown good or at least some resilience. Andor stated that ‘appropriate labour market reforms and improvements in the design of welfare systems’ could make countries more resilient to economic shocks’.
English: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/09/business/global/daily-euro-zone-watch ...
http://en.mercopress.com/2013/01/08/euro-zone-unemployment-up-for-19th-month ...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2013/jan/08/eurozone-unemployment-hits-new-high
http://ec.europa.eu/social/main ...
For more information, please contact the editor Jan Cremers, Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Labour Studies (AIAS) cbn-aias@uva.nl or the communications officer at the ETUI, Mariya Nikolova mnikolova@etui.org. For previous issues of the Collective bargaining newsletter please visit http://www.etui.org/E-Newsletters/Collective-bargaining-newsletter. You may find further information on the ETUI at www.etui.org, and on the AIAS at www.uva-aias.net.