EU business confidence best 'for years'

Economic growth and expectations in Europe remain positive, according to a key report out today.

The latest European restructuring monitoring report reveals that much of the economic data, particularly for Germany, is better than it has been for "many years".

Despite job losses during the first quarter of 2007, the number of new jobs created during the same period increased by almost one third (30 per cent) over the previous quarter.

A total of 184,500 new jobs were announced during the first quarter of 2007, according to the report by the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Eurofound).

The largest number of new jobs was in the UK, accounting for 29 per cent of the total, mostly in the retail sector.

As in the previous quarter, Poland ranks second, with its planned job creation mostly concentrated in the Polish police force and mining industry.

During the same period, the Dublin-based EU agency says there were 132,700 job cuts - with the Czech Republic recording the highest number, followed by France, the UK, Italy and Germany.

These five countries accounted for 77.5 per cent of all job losses.

“What we can say from this report is that economic confidence is high for the European labour market.

“Germany’s recovery is particularly good but there are a lot new jobs being created, more than are being lost," said agency spokesman Mans Martensson.

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