(DUBLIN, IRELAND) Announced job losses due to company restructuring activity declined in the third quarter, according to the latest edition of the European Restructuring Monitor (ERM) quarterly. Job losses did, however, continue to outnumber job gains as they have done in every quarter since the onset of the 2008-9 recession. During the previous quarter, companies undergoing large-scale restructuring in the European Union announced nearly 60.000 job losses. 

The economic backdrop continues to be dominated by sovereign debt problems in the eurozone countries. Austerity programmes, which have begun to negatively impact public employment, especially in local and central government administrations, have not thus far been accompanied by the hoped-for handover from public to private demand. 

Within the EU, there are a number of different labour market stories reflecting very different trajectories during and after the 2008–9 crisis. Unemployment in Spain and Ireland continues to rise while other countries severely affected by the crisis – notably the Baltic states – show signs of a strong recovery. The German unemployment rate is at its lowest level in nearly twenty years (6%) despite a recent easing of growth while the UK unemployment rates is at an eighteen-year high (8.1%). Meanwhile in Greece unemployment has risen by 4 percentage points in the last twelve months.

At EU27 aggregate level, these differences cancel each other out. Employment has remained stubbornly around the 10% level for 18 months. The recovery remains not quite but nearly jobless. A net increase of one million persons in employment between mid-2010 and mid-2011 compares meekly with the five million net decline in employment during the recession.

The ERM recorded a total of 254 cases of restructuring during the third quarter of 2011, between 1 July 2011 and 31 September, up from 245 cases during the second quarter. Of these, 152 were cases of announced restructuring involving job loss, and 101 were cases involving announced job creation. Over the period, a total of 59,000 announced job losses (down from 93,500 in the previous quarter) and 31,000 announced job gains (down from 40,000 in the previous quarter) were recorded. Internal restructuring accounted for 70% of the announced job losses. Compared to the previous two quarters of 2011, the ERM recorded an increase in the restructuring job losses attributable to bankruptcies (20%) and closures (11%), while mergers and acquisition remained stable (2%).

In terms of geographic distribution, the United Kingdom (9,256 jobs) and Netherlands (8,024 jobs), followed by Romania (6,575 jobs), Italy (4,525 jobs) and Poland (4,002 jobs) recorded the greatest number of announced job losses. The United Kingdom and Romania also featured on top of the countries with the highest job creation (5,597 and 4,456, respectively) without, however, job gains outnumbering total job loss. A comparatively high number of new jobs were also announced in France (4,005) and the Czech Republic (3,268).

The ERM quarterly also features a special focus on Nokia Romania, following its announcement in September 2011 of its intention to close its factory in Jucu (Cluj, Romania), dismissing all 2,200 employees. The announcement comes three years after the Finnish multinational transferred activities from Germany to the then newly constructed Romanian plant. 

The new ERM quarterly is available at http://bit.ly/3ermq2011 

For further information, contact Måns Mårtensson, media manager, on email: mma@eurofound.europa.eu, telephone: +353-1-2043124, or mobile: +353-876-593 507.  

Notes to the editor

The European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Eurofound) is a tripartite EU body that provides European social policymakers with comparative data, research and recommendations. 

The European Restructuring Monitor quarterly (ERM quarterly) offers an overview of the main findings and an interpretation of the data collected over the past three months for the European Restructuring Monitor (ERM). It provides statistics comparing restructuring activities across the 27 EU Member States and Norway, identifying the countries and sectors most affected. Each issue of the ERM quarterly will highlight developments in a specific country or sector, pointing to key facts behind the statistical data. In addition, background information on two major, recent restructuring cases will be presented.

The data for this report was extracted on 7 October 2011. As the ERM continually updates cases in light of new information on recent cases, data reported here may not correspond exactly to later extractions. For previous editions of the quarterly as well as other ERM-related publications, visit the ERM website.

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