Friday, May 27, 2005

[IWS] European Restructuring Monitor (ERM Quarterly, Spring 2005) [27 May 2005]

IWS Documented News Service
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Institute for Workplace Studies                 Professor Samuel B. Bacharach
School of Industrial & Labor Relations          Director, Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell University
16 East 34th Street, 4th floor                  Stuart Basefsky
New York, NY 10016                      Director, IWS News Bureau
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European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Dublin Foundation)
European Restructuring Monitor (ERM)

ERM quarterly (Spring 2005)
http://www.emcc.eurofound.eu.int/erm/index.php?template=quarterly

The European Restructuring Monitor quarterly (ERM quarterly) offers an overview of the main findings and an interpretation of the data collected over the past three months for the European Restructuring Monitor (ERM). It will provide statistics comparing restructuring activities across the 25 EU Member States and two of the candidate countries, Bulgaria and Romania, identifying the countries and sectors most affected. Each issue of the ERM quarterly will highlight developments in a specific country or sector, pointing to key facts behind the statistical data. In addition, background information on two major, recent restructuring cases will be presented.
Data limitations

The data collected and published through ERM - while useful in quantifying the phenomenon of industrial restructuring and its employment consequences - has some limitations. First, ERM correspondents have to rely on the accuracy of newspaper articles. Second, the newspaper articles report on restructuring announcements, which are rarely followed up by reporting on the actual measures taken. Third, ERM correspondents document a higher number of 'smaller' cases in the small economies, since these are picked up in the national papers but would not get coverage in the newspapers monitored in the large economies.

Press release, 27 May 2005

The European Restructuring Monitor ERM Quarterly:

MUCH INDUSTRIAL RESTRUCTURING ACTIVITY ACROSS EUROPE

While the general trend of job losses due to restructuring continues, job creation saw a massive increase of more than 62% over the previous three months, according to the latest European Restructuring Monitor (ERM) Quarterly.

Some 220,000 job losses were announced as a result of 238 restructuring cases during the first three months of the year, representing a 36% increase over the previous quarter, according to the ERM quarterly from the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions, the Dublin-based EU Agency. The lion's share of the planned job reductions were found in public administration (48%), but also in the transport and communications sector (20%), and manufacturing (17%). Worst hit was the United Kingdom, followed by the Czech Republic, the Netherlands and Denmark.

'European industrial restructuring is not all bad news,' commented Willy Buschak, Acting Director of the European Foundation, on the findings. 'Almost 63,500 new jobs were announced during the same period, representing a whopping 62% increase over the previous quarter. In the former EU15, the United Kingdom boasts the highest rate of business expansion, with 22 restructuring cases, accounting for some 19,000 new jobs.'

'Well over half the planned job creations, however, result from expanding business activities in the new Member States,' Willy Buschak added. 'Among the three new Member States monitored by the ERM in last quarter, about 21,500 jobs are planned for Poland, 14,000 in the Czech Republic, and 3,000 in Slovakia, primarily in the automotive sector.'

The quarterly report names many cases in which subsidiaries and sub-contractors to the car producers are relocating to the lower cost economies of the new Member States.

The European Restructuring Monitor (ERM) is the Foundation's monitoring tools that records industrial restructuring cases in 18 countries across the European continent, the former EU15 countries plus three new Member States, the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia. By the end of the year, all EU25 countries as well as Bulgaria and Romania, will be covered by the ERM. This ERM quarterly is the seventh issue, rounding up nearly two years of monitoring Europe's restructuring trends.

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This information is provided to subscribers, friends, faculty, students and alumni of the School of Industrial & Labor Relations (ILR). It is a service of the Institute for Workplace Studies (IWS) in New York City. Stuart Basefsky is responsible for the selection of the contents which is intended to keep researchers, companies, workers, and governments aware of the latest information related to ILR disciplines as it becomes available for the purposes of research, understanding and debate. The content does not reflect the opinions or positions of Cornell University, the School of Industrial & Labor Relations, or that of Mr. Basefsky and should not be construed as such. The service is unique in that it provides the original source documentation, via links, behind the news and research of the day. Use of the information provided is unrestricted. However, it is requested that users acknowledge that the information was found via the IWS Documented News Service.

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Stuart Basefsky                 *
Director, IWS News Bureau               *
Institute for Workplace Studies *
Cornell/ILR School                      *
16 E. 34th Street, 4th Floor            *
New York, NY 10016                      *
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Telephone: (607) 255-2703               *
Fax: (607) 255-9641                     *
E-mail: smb6@cornell.edu                *
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