How hard will the downturn hit the labour market?

One consequence of the global economic downturn will be a severe deterioration in labour market conditions. In the euro-zone, we expect unemployment to rise from 11.3 million to 14.5 million by the end of next year, pushing the unemployment rate up from 7.5% to over 9%. This has serious negative implications for consumer spending and, with the prospects for other sectors deteriorating too, we now expect the economy to stagnate at best in 2009.