Employment - the worst is still to come?

In the current recession, GDP in the 15 ‘old’ Member States declined by around 5% in the year up to the first quarter of 2009. While the average decline was slightly less in the new Member States, some Member States experienced a sharper than average decline – Germany, Ireland and the Baltic States, for example. In contrast, the average drop in employment across the EU has so far been relatively modest – less than 1.5%.