EMPLOYMENT : EMPLOYMENT OUTLOOK STILL DIM FOR 2010.

• Position: Brief article

Although economic growth has resumed, the labour market in Europe has continued to deteriorate, but at a more moderate pace in recent months, reveals the Monthly labour market monitor', published on 15 February by the European Commission. The figures are not particularly good, but optimists see improvements. On the one hand, the labour market in the EU is stronger than in the United States, and on the other, the rise in unemployment last December (+163,000 units for a total of some 23 million) is the smallest since mid-2008. This nevertheless represents a jump of 4.6 million compared with December 2008 and seven million compared with March 2008, when the jobless rate was at a low.

The increases were particularly strong in Latvia and Estonia. In France, Germany and the United Kingdom, on the other hand, rates seem to be stabilising or even declining.

The February 2010 report, which is based on data limited to...