The number of unemployed people in Germany fell this month, keeping the jobless rate at a 14-year low, as companies hired staff to work off a backlog of orders. The jobless rate, adjusted for seasonal swings, declined to 8.7 percent, the lowest since May 1993, from 8.8 percent last month, the Nuremberg-based Federal Labor Agency said today. The adjusted number of people out of work fell 40,000 to 3.66 million. Economists expected a drop of 30,000, according to the median of 37 forecasts in a Bloomberg News survey. German companies have invested in plant and equipment and expanded their workforce to meet Asian and European demand for machines and cars made in Europe's largest economy. The BGA wholesale and export federation forecasts that foreign orders may grow by a tenth this year to about 985 billion euros ($1.42 billion) and will exceed 1 trillion euros in 2008 even as German growth slows. ``Germany's economy is moving in a very positive direction and that's going to last several years,'' said Thomas Bauer, chief executive officer of Bauer AG, a maker of construction- industry machines that employs 5,500. ``The U.S. housing crisis adds some uncertainty. It will slow global growth, but not stop it.'' Wolfsburg, Germany-based Volkswagen AG said on Oct. 15 that it is on course to set a new sales record of over 3.5 million Volkswagen-brand vehicles this year. ThyssenKrupp AG, Germany's largest steelmaker, won a contract on Oct. 22 worth a ``triple- digit million-euro sum'' to build a plant in Saudi Arabia. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601068&sid=a4JjItgLViOQ&refer=economy To say in the words of former Ex-defense-secretary D. Rumsfeld : Seems "Old Europe" is winning some steam...
What do you expect with laws against overtime. They have really short work weeks. Lets see how they would perform if the O/T laws were changed GDP would go up. Akuma
Absolutely. There's a standard amount of work that has to be run, regardless of where a plant is located. If people can't work more than 40 hours (or 35 in France) then you have to hire more people.
Germany is not "suffering" from laws against overtime but from shortage of skilled workforce. Especially lack of engineers and skilled workers in high-tech sectors. 200.000 engineers lacking according to the Association of German Engineers. Siemens, for exapmle, is paying up to 3000 EUR incentive fee for recommending engineers to the company...
Don't buy into the German employment propaganda. Most of the these recently added new jobs were created expanding their network of autobahns:
over time you automate the factory by putting in more equipment which require less labor and/or you build more modern plants ie more capital less labor intensive in more hospitable locations. share the labor policy is a failed socialist policy.