Highly educated, they used to have steady jobs and decent wages… until now. The so-called ‘insiders’ are the new victims of Spain’s unemployment drama, which affects more than 27% of the population. Prospects for 2013 are gloomy, since credit is not flowing, SMEs are choking and consumption remains paralyzed. Have the labor reform and all sacrifices been worth it?
MADRID | By Carlos Díaz Güell | The Western world’s unemployment has reached brutal dimensions. There are more than 200 million jobless people around the world, representing 5.9 per cent of the labour force on the planet, according to the International Labour Organisation. Perhaps it is time to retire or rethink Keynes and also–why not?–Hayek and seek new formulas that will lead us out of the tunnel.
Keep in mind a new concept: Lionomics. An acronym that gives name to the ambitious process of economic reform the new Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang must bring forward.
MADRID | By Julia Pastor | Jobless numbers registered in Spanish public employment offices in last May dropped by 98,265 against market expectations of 50,000. It is a record high in this month since the unemployment data started to be collected in 1996.
MADRID | The 6.2 million of unemployed is brutal, anomalous, and lacks explanatory references among countries with quite similar structures.
LONDON | “It is not about how much an hour of work costs but how much value produces an hour of work if we add technology to the equation.”
By Ralf Grahn, EU affairs advisor | This time around, are the heads of state or government going to send a credible message to the growing numbers of the unemployed on the road to long term joblessness and social exclusion?
By Alexandru F. Ghita | The “sudden death” of one economic giant in certain regions created major spikes in unemployment. This is a(nother) sign that reliance on major companies to produce and sustain jobs on their own is counter-productive.
MADRID | Don’t blame the recession as the only source of this huge Spanish unemployment when fiscal drag on salaries represents over 80% of overall receipts.
BARCELONA | Maintaining growth is crucial to continue reducing debt and boosting the recovery in employment. The US unemployment rate falls to 7.7% thanks to the reduction in the labour force.