An EU body Eurofund published report said the number of announced job losses in the UK was 63,330 between 2009 and March 31. This shows that the UK suffered the largest number of job losses in Europe in the first three months of this year whilst Europes 27 member states saw a total of 220,000 people lose their jobs.
That is the largest figure since Eurofound was set up in 2002 to study employment restructuring.
By a ratio of almost 3 to 1 the job losses are now outnumbering job creation in Europe.
The sectors most badly affected were financial services, car production and retail. For the third quarter in a row, car production was the sector with the greatest reported job loss (23,584 jobs).
Announced job losses totalled 219,390 across the EU, and the highest number (63,314) was in the UK, followed by Poland (38,975), Germany (17,461) and France (11,779). This may provide clear indication to some sceptics that the global recession is worsening and deepening.
On a positive note there were strong job creation increases in the catering business – restaurants and hotels and fast-food outlets, as well as discount store retailing.
