The European Commission has published its estimates for employment in the Union for the period 2005-2006 in the document on “spring economic forecasts” published in Brussels last week. The Executive speaks of “modest revival of the employment rate in the Euro zone”, with a growth of 0.7% in the year in course and a forecast growth of employment of 0.9% in 2006. The modest levels of growth are justified says the document by the “general tendency of the continuous growth in importance of the services sector at the expense of the agricultural and manufacturing sectors”. Overall, the estimates speak of just over a million new jobs in 2005, and 1.3 million next year. By the end of 2006, unemployment in the Euro zone ought to fall to below 8.7%.
