EU-DIGEST

Euro Trades Near Three-Week High Against Dollar as Stocks Rise and unemployment drops in Germany - Andrew MacAskill

The euro traded near a three-week high against the dollar as European stocks advanced for a fourth day and a report showed unemployment declined in Germany, the region’s largest economy. The currency shared by 15 European nations gained versus the Brazilian real and Canadian dollar as every major stock market in the region rose. German unemployment dropped in November, withstanding the worst recession in 12 years. Indian rupee forwards fell on speculation overseas investors will shun the nation’s assets after terrorist attacks in Mumbai prompted regulators to shut markets.

Labels: employment, EU, euro, Germany

US Economy - 84,000 jobs cut in Aug.; jobless rate hits 5-year high of 6.1% - by Sue Kirchhof

US businesses shed 84,000 jobs in August as the unemployment rate soared to a five-year peak of 6.1%, the Labor Department said Friday in a report providing stark evidence that the economy is foundering. Fully 2.2 million Americans have lost their jobs in the past 12 months, as the unemployment rate has climbed from 4.7%. So far in 2008, firms have laid off 605,000 workers, with job losses averaging 76,000 a month.

Labels: employment, US Economy

German Unemployment Drops to Lowest in 15 1/2 Years - by Rainer Buergin

German unemployment fell more than expected in March to the lowest level since August 1992 as worldwide demand for cars, sports shoes and factory machinery prompted companies to add staff. The jobless rate, adjusted for seasonal swings, declined to 7.8 percent from 8 percent in February, the Federal Labor Agency in Nuremberg said today. The median forecast in a Bloomberg News survey of 32 economists was for a decline to 7.9 percent. ``The progress achieved in the German labor market is tremendous,'' said Stephan Rieke, an economist at BHF-Bank AG in Frankfurt.

Labels: employment, EU, Germany, Labor

US Economy: Jobs plunge by 63,000, worst since 2003; Fed steps in - by Barbara Hagenbaugh

Employers cut jobs for a second month in February while the unemployment rate fell as more people quit looking for work in the weakening job market, the government said Friday in a report that led to further calls of a 2008 recession. The Federal Reserve, shortly before the report was released, underscored its concern for the economy by saying it will pump more cash into financial markets to try to ease credit. The Fed said it will raise its planned March 10 and March 24 auctions to $50 billion each, from $30 billion it had previously announced. The auctions serve as short-term loans to get banks the cash they need to keep lending.

Labels: employment, US Economy

Germany surprises with big drop in unemployment for December - by Mark Landler

"Of all the measures of Germany's economic revival over the last two years, none may be more telling than this one: There are 711,000 fewer people out of work here than in 2006 and 1.5 million fewer than in 2005, when unemployment peaked at more than five million. The German government released employment data for December on Thursday, surprising experts again, this time with a larger-than-expected decline of 78,000 unemployed, adjusted for seasonal factors. Economists had expected the number of people out of work to fall by 25,000. It was the 21st consecutive month of falling numbers."

Labels: employment, EU, Germany

EC says growth,jobs strategy is working

The European Union (EU)'s flagship strategy for growth and jobs is working now, three years after it was relaunched in 2005, the European Commission said on Tuesday. The Lisbon strategy, named after the Portuguese capital where it was initially adopted by EU member states in 2000, is contributing to the recent much improved performance of the EU economy, the commission said in its strategic report on economic reform across Europe. Previously aimed at making the EU "the most dynamic and competitive knowledge-based economy in the world" by 2010, the bold strategy was later watered down and was relaunched in 2005, which is organized around three-year cycle, with clear focus on growth and jobs.

Thanks to the structural reform carried out under the strategy, the EU registered a remarkable economic growth of 3.0 percent last year, the fastest pace since the beginning of this decade. Economic growth in the 27-nation bloc is expected to remain at 2.9 percent in 2007.

Labels: Economy, employment, EU