Unemployment

The Institute of Labour (INE) of Greece's GSEE and ADEDY trade union confederations issued its third annual economic and employment outlook in September 2001. The report highlights wage differentials between EU Member States and income inequality in Greece, contrasted with the good performance of

As recently as early summer 2001, forecasts predicted a fall in Austria's average annual unemployment rate by 0.1 percentage points to 3.6% in 2001(using the EU definition). However, this prediction has turned out to underestimate the impact on current labour market developments of the government's

In a recent study, the Institute for Employment Research (Institut für Arbeits- und Berufsforschung, IAB) of the Federal Employment Service (Bundesanstalt für Arbeit) has analysed the effects of the extension of parental leave entitlement to three years in 1992 ('Erziehungsurlaub. Hilfe zur

The European Commission published its latest annual employment report on 20 July 2001. Entitled Employment in Europe 2001, recent trends and prospects [1], it finds that Europe's labour markets have performed well over the past year. In a foreword to the 143-page document, the Employment and Social

In February 2001, Greece's SEV employers' federation held a seminar on "the challenge of employment". With Greek unemployment - in contrast to most other EU Member States - still rising, the employers examined the current situation and prospects and drew up a set of proposals on issues such as

The unemployment rate in France fell from 12.6% in June 1997 to 9% in January 2001, and labour shortages are starting to appear in some sectors. In early 2001, there has been considerable debate among the social partners and other parties as to the respective roles in the reduction of unemployment

The redundant employees of the Fujitsu Siemens plant located in Kilo, Finland, which was closed in 2000, brought legal proceedings against the company in February 2001. The employees are demanding compensation totalling some FIM 50 million for possible violation of the Finnish Cooperation Act's

An agreement reforming France's jointly-managed UNEDIC unemployment insurance scheme was formally endorsed by the government, at the third time of asking, in December 2000. This followed 10 months of intense negotiations, which became a power struggle between the government and the employers'