January 3, 2012
The starkly contrasting economic trajectories of countries inside the eurozone were highlighted on Tuesday as Germany reported unemployment at 20-year lows while Spanish jobless figures rose for the fifth consecutive month.
The number of Spanish jobseekers rose to 4.42m, while Germany’s jobless count fell to 2.976m. Another measure, based on household surveys, puts Spanish seasonally adjusted unemployment at 5.4m, nearly 23 per cent of the workforce. The comparable German figure decreased to 6.8 per cent in December from 6.9 per cent the prior month.
The divergence of eurozone economies has been a source of tension since Europe’s sovereign debt crisis struck, with northern countries around Germany recording much stronger growth than their southern neighbours, whose less competitive economies have been further burdened by austerity measures to correct unsustainable fiscal policies.
While Spain and others have announced labour-market reforms to give their economies new bounce, the big question for eurozone leaders as they enter 2012 is whether the bloc’s ruling politicians have the support – and nerve – to see them through.
“The brunt of the crisis will be borne by the lowest qualified, and those in the public sector, whose wages and jobs are likely to be impacted first by austerity measures,” said Ronald Janssen, economist at the European Trade Union Confederation in Brussels, warning that anaemic growth or recession in the eurozone could lead to even bleaker prospects for national labour markets this year.
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