The impact of the crisis on employment - Issue number 79/2009 - Products Statistics in Focus

People are working fewer hours, and times are hard for workers on temporary contracts and people with lower levels of education

The economic crisis has hit the European labour markets, resulting in falling employment levels and rising unemployment in almost all Member States of the European Union. Underlying the general trends in the aggregate figures, a number of striking features characterising the employment situation have come to light during the recent crisis. How flexible are the labour markets across Europe in absorbing the crisis without firing people e.g. by lowering hours worked and making more use of part-time workers? Are workers on temporary contracts hit harder than those on permanent contracts? Are there differences in job losses by level of education of people? And how many people managed to find a job against the trend? Recent data (second quarter of 2009) from the European Labour Force Survey (LFS) helps to shed light on these issues. This publication is the second in a series analysing the effects of the current economic crisis on the labour market in Europe.