Graph of 10/03/2013. Employment in the USA and the Eurozone, 1997-2012

Between 1997 and the summer of 2010 the ‘sclerotic’ labour markets of the Eurozone countries not only added a lot more jobs than the ‘flexible’ labour market of the USA but they were also more crisis resistant. This was partly due because real flexibility enabled the creation of large numbers of voluntary part-time jobs in countries like Germany and the Netherlands. After the summer of 2010 austerity policies however took hold, partly to force countries to introduce UK and USA style flexibility. Think of the high interest rates for southern European countries which were used to blackmail them – hey, ow dumb is it to agree with rising interest rates in the worst crisis since the thirties. A remarkable fact: the increase of the number of jobs in the fourth quarter of 2012 in the USA was enabled by a rather large decline in economy wide average productivity which took place despite a sizeable increase in sectoral productivity in USA manufacturing. Another remarkable fact: the Eurozone employment statistics lag the USA data with no less than five months.

Data: Eurostat, BLS. “4 per Zw. Gem.” = “4 qrt Runn. Av.” As I have the Dutch version of Excel I can’t change this into english.