Eurofound published a report that states the likelihood that the EU is already in a double-dip recession
According to the latest European Restructuring Monitor (ERM) published by Eurofound, for every three jobs lost in the European Union in large-scale restructurings, two new ones were created during the first quarter of 2012. In addition, the report also reveals a weakening EU economy with an increasing likelihood that the Union is already in a double-dip recession.
Eurofound, the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions, published its latest European Restructuring Monitor (ERM) quarterly which provides an overview of the employment effects of large-scale restructuring in the EU and Norway. Among the report findings, this reveals that the restructuring cases with the biggest employment impact during the quarter both took place in the public sector. In January 2012, the Commission has launched a consultation on corporate restructuring.
Furthermore, the report shows that for every three jobs lost in the European Union in large-scale restructurings, two new ones were created during the first quarter of 2012. The ERM recorded a total of 342 cases of restructuring between 1 January and 31 March 2012, nearly a hundred more cases than in the previous quarter. Of these, 213 were cases of announced restructuring involving job loss, 126 were cases involving announced job creation and three cases involved both job loss and job gain. They amounted to 86,013 announced job losses and 62,878 announced job gains.
With regard to the figures by sectors, manufacturing (36,309 jobs) was by far the sector the most affected by job losses. Other notably affected sectors were transport, storage and communications (12,939 jobs). However, the highest number of announced job creations were recorded in manufacturing (15,280 jobs), followed by retail (12,226 jobs). The countries which recorded the greatest number of announced job losses were Germany (12,416 jobs) and Hungary (12,301 jobs), followed by Spain (10,199 jobs), the United Kingdom (8,081 jobs) and France (8,036 jobs). Romania (12,326 jobs) recorded the highest number of new jobs, followed by the United Kingdom (11,600 jobs), Poland (10,623 jobs) and France (10,430 jobs).