Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Labour markets, between heaven and hell



[...]heaven is where women and older people work like Swedes, the young work like the Dutch and the unemployed find jobs like the Danes. Hell is where workers get into unemployment like the Americans and out of it like the Italians.


5 comments:

Dan Anghel said...

Hell is also where public sector unions resemble those in France.

Sebi Buhai said...

Yes, very unfortunately, I was expecting somebody to place France in the right category (with all la vie en rose, heaven is certainly not it nowadays :-)). All hell broke loose there... and you are in Lyon: hope you can still use public transport...

Dan Anghel said...

Fortunately I use the bike in the city, but there has been no transportation in "centre ville", where I live, since all the hell break loose on Tuesday. And, fortunately still, the "service minimum" imposed for the railway transportation allows me to get to work and back without much inconvenience. So I'm confident that this pension reform will pass through, despite the uprising of the public sector unions and high school students unions.

There would be much more to be said, but some polls among the population show striking results : around 70% of the people sympathize with the unions, while around the same percentage admit that the increase in the minimum legal retirement age is inevitable. Therefore I'm starting to think that there's much more about this strike than just raising the retirement age, it seems to be more and more politicized against the current government as a whole and the president.

Sebi Buhai said...

Very interesting with these polls, don't know what's cooking there, but it surely doesn't sound good for Sarko. In any case, at least, if he keeps the retirement law, will enter in history as somebody economically sane (in this context, he was of course, and unfortunately, not consistent), whether or not he will also be one of the very few Presidents not to be re-elected.

Sebi Buhai said...

@G
Not clear immediately (ok, I am slow today) how your comment relates to the context, but any insider opinions are welcome...