euro|topics - Are we facing a social crisis?

Main focus of Thursday, October 16, 2008

Are we facing a social crisis?

Has the financial crisis now reached the real economy? Rising unemployment figures, fear of an imminent recession and worries about the future of social benefits dominate the discussion in the European press.

De Standaard - Belgium

Following the political and financial crises Belgium is now facing a social crisis, the daily De Standaard warns: "The wave of redundancies that has swept our country in the past couple of weeks is only the first harbinger of the third crisis. ... But the social crisis - job losses, falling purchase power, the spiral of recession - threatens to be much more drastic. It is a crisis in which politics must play an important role, likewise the employers and the trade unions. Only if these three groups deal with the crisis in a responsible way can we limit the damage. ... The irresponsible behaviour of many bankers has certainly not helped to inspire confidence in employers. The senseless day of strikes last week leads us to expect the worst from the trade unions. And the budget that the government of [Prime Minister Yves] Leterne has cobbled together undermines confidence in politicians". (16/10/2008)

The Independent - United Kingdom

Looking at the steep increase in unemployment figures over the past three months the liberal daily The Independent sees Britain facing a recession: "The first thing to note is that this is going to be expensive for all of us. Welfare payments already eat up a good proportion of government spending. Now they are going to have to rise merely to keep the newly unemployed from destitution. ...The second thing to note is that the Government seems rather ill-prepared to deal with rising joblessness. Its present unemployment reduction policies are based on an assumption of strong economic growth. ... We should not be under any illusions. This process is going to be painful no matter what ministers do. In the end, the best most of us can hope is that the recession will not be too deep and that the labour market reforms of the past two decades will help to propel us into better times." (16/10/2008)

Les Echos - France

The daily Les Echos is demanding that concrete measures be taken to stop unemployment rising: "In the next two years the economy will create hardly any new jobs. That is a U-turn compared with the previous period, in which thousands more jobs became available. At a time when enormous sums are being provided to save the financial system, we should be using that same energy to create jobs. It is not necessarily a question of spending more money, ... but rather of spending it more sensibly. The state should push ahead with the reorganization of the employment office, which has yet to make a tangible contribution. Nor would it be completely absurd to create state-subsidised jobs. The social partners should be doing more to tackle unemployment, which would include addressing changed working conditions (fixed-term contracts, temporary work etc.)." (15/10/2008)

Aftonbladet - Sweden

In Sweden unemployment insurance is partly linked to the trade unions and is not obligatory. Because of rising contributions, many people have opted out of unemployment insurance in recent years, but now - in a period of economic uncertainty - they have started paying in again. The evening newspaper Aftonbladet comments: "If we can regard changes in the number of people paying unemployment insurance contributions as an indication of a reversal of the trend, then it would be in the month in which 8,000 jobs were officially cut, many of them in industry. If there really is a reverse in the trend of people opting out of unemployment insurance, that is hardly an indication that the problems have been solved. Jobs that only recently were regarded as secure are now under threat, and more and more people are sensing that the time has come to make provisions for the future." (16/10/2008)

» To the complete press review of Thursday, October 16, 2008

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