FRANKFURT (MNI) – Employment growth is subdued in the current
recovery, but signs point to a stabilization on the horizon for the
Eurozone labor market, the European Central Bank’s Monthly Bulletin
reported Thursday.
Given that the adjustment in employment during the crisis was
mostly executed by cutting hours worked, not staff, signs of recovery
are to be seen in higher hours, and here, “modest increases have been
seen since the start of the year,” the ECB wrote.
“However, hours worked and persons employed remain well below the
levels recorded at the beginning of the economic downturn,” the Bulletin
noted.
“After the resilience of euro area employment throughout the
economic downturn, employment growth remains subdued in the current
recovery, but indicators point to a clear stabilization of labour
markets,” the bank wrote.
“Labor market conditions have continued to stabilize over recent
months,” the ECB assessed.
While conceding that no new employment data have become available
since last month’s Bulletin, the most recent data show “employment
remaining unchanged, on a quarterly basis, in the first and second
quarters of 2010.”
–Frankfurt bureau, +49-69-720142, tbuell@marketnews.com
[TOPICS: M$$EC$,M$X$$$,MGX$$$]
