EU: Economic downturn hits labour market

The economic slowdown is starting to have a clear impact on EU labour markets, with employment growth halted and unemployment rising, according to the European Commission’s latest quarterly review of developments, published in December 2008.

The commission’s winter 2008 Quarterly EU Labour Market Review (PDF format, 242K) (on the European Commission website) finds that employment growth ground to a standstill in the third quarter of 2008, while the unemployment rate has begun to increase.