The European Bureau of Statistics recently announced that the previous employment report for the New Year made this snowy winter even colder. In November last year, the unemployment rate in the Eurozone broke through 10% for the first time since the establishment of the Eurozone in 1999. Immediately after the United States, the unemployment rate in the euro zone also entered the "ten times."
In response, EU Trade Commissioner Karel & Degut also told the European Parliament at his appointment hearing on January 12 that he advocated that the EU’s anti-dumping policy will not be more tolerant in the next five years. Rather, it is the opposite. He bluntly said that "the low valuation of the renminbi is a major problem." Europe has regarded China as a "scapegoat" for its high unemployment. A new round of trade protectionism against China is sharpening its knives.
Employment lags behind economic recovery Unemployment will be the top priority for the eurozone politicians on the table in 2010. After the ten-year establishment of the euro zone, the unemployment rate soared to 10% for the first time. In November last year alone, 100,000 people joined the unemployed army. The total number of unemployed reached 15.7 million and the unemployment rate reached 10%. Coincidentally, the unemployment rate in the United States last November was also 10%.
Looking ahead, the outlook for the job market in the Eurozone is not optimistic. Experts predict that in the first half of this year, the unemployment rate in the euro zone will continue to rise, as is the case in the United States. According to estimates released by the European Commission in December last year, the unemployment rate of the EU-27 will increase from the current 9.5% to 10.3% in 2010, and the total unemployed population will reach 28 million.
Since the third quarter of last year, the US and European economies have ended the recession into a positive growth zone, but at the same time the unemployment rate in Europe and the United States is still soaring. The situation that occurred during this period is: At the beginning of the crisis, the first steps taken by major European and American companies were Layoffs, relying on the financial crisis to successfully complete the "slimming"; but after the crisis, even if the company's order status has improved, employers are not eager to post the recruitment notice.
In fact, since the outbreak of the crisis in 2008, the total number of layoffs in the United States has reached 7.2 million; although the euro zone has taken various measures to encourage employers to retain jobs, the total number of layoffs has exceeded 4 million. Tens of millions of workers have lost their jobs and the number is increasing, which puts tremendous pressure on politicians in the euro zone. At the same time, as the euro zone countries have already had high debts, it is already weak to create new jobs in the near future. At this time, blaming the increase in unemployment on China’s exports has become a pretext for eurozone politicians, and they have not hesitated to wave their protectionism to China.
European trade protection will be a "new policy"
China is the EU's second largest trading partner, but in the past 2009, EU countries' anti-dumping actions against China have never stopped. From labor-intensive industries such as footwear, clothing and textiles to photovoltaic and energy-saving lamps, products with certain technological content are the targets of EU anti-dumping against China. But we have seen that this protectionist network is still far from being truly opened.
At the hearing of the European Parliament, Degut, who is about to serve as the new EU Trade Commissioner, frequently mentioned China during his policy policy for the next five years, which shows that the candidate trade commissioner attaches importance to China. For anti-dumping policies that have caused widespread controversy within and outside the EU, Degut said he will proceed to improve the EU's anti-dumping policy, but he hinted that the reform will not be too strong, and that the direction of reform will not make the EU's anti-dumping policy even more Tolerance, but the opposite. He said, "This will be a revision, not a complete change." Degut also blamed China's RMB exchange rate policy. He claimed that China must adjust the RMB exchange rate to eliminate global trade imbalances and help the global economy recover. He also revealed that the EU will use "all possible occasions" to urge the Chinese government to let the yuan appreciate.
Finding solutions from their own In the new year, job creation has become a good bargaining chip for eurozone politicians to win votes. However, they ignored the real cause of the outbreak of the financial crisis, simply blamed the increase in unemployment on China's exports, and equated "strikeing China's exports" with "creating jobs". It is doubtful that they have ulterior motives.
First, unemployment has intensified from the economic crisis and financial crisis in the West, and the financial crisis is caused by the Western financial model of neglect.
Second, to solve the unemployment problem, we must find a solution from ourselves. Germany's economic downturn of 5% in 2009 is a relatively serious recession in the past 60 years; the euro zone and the EU last year are expected to shrink by about 4%. Promoting the economic recovery in Europe is the fundamental way to solve the unemployment problem. In addition, European governments should adopt incentives to encourage employers to increase actual jobs as soon as the order picks up, and to shorten the time interval between economic recovery and employment recovery.
Third, in response to global economic imbalances and unemployment, global countries including China and Europe need to work together. Through the economic crisis, the world has seen that the ability of traditional industries to solve employment problems is limited, and it is necessary to cultivate new industries to truly solve the unemployment problem. The development of global green economy, low-carbon economy and environmental protection industry can provide tens of millions of jobs and alleviate the imbalance of the global economy. The development of these industries requires the cooperation of all countries in the world. The implementation of trade protectionism does not help. The solution of the problem.