Layoffs Rise, Hiring Declines Across Europe

The fourth round of very tense negotiations between the management of German automaker Volkswagen, the IG Metall union, and the factory committee ended without effect in Germany. The talks, which lasted more than seven hours, centered on a decision by VW’s top executives to close three plants in order to drastically cut operating costs and make German cars more competitive with Chinese manufacturers in the auto sector.

While union leaders promise more mass demonstrations, Volkswagen’s head of the negotiating team, Arne Meiswinkel, said “both sides are still far from a real solution.”

Faced with workers’ threats to halt assembly lines, top VW executives, as always, promised to “take workers’ requests seriously.” A fundamental condition for VW employees facing new mass layoffs is that they refuse to close plants. “The burden of securing future investments must not be placed unilaterally on employees,” said Volkswagen works council president Daniela Cavallo and IG Metal union chief negotiator Torsten Groeger (pictured).

The bad news for those who make a living doing their work comes from the other side of the Channel: recruitment in the UK is falling much faster than in Germany and other major European economies in 2024, with job offers 13% below pre-covid pandemic levels and even an unacceptable 23% lower than a year ago.

According to the UK’s Financial Times, “the decline is particularly pronounced in the technology and professional sectors,” where job offers in software development, IT design, and communications have fallen by 40% from levels recorded in 2019. According to Jack Kennedy, senior economist at Indeed, a London-based global job search agency, “the UK is facing stronger headwinds than other countries, driven by higher cost of living pressures, policy uncertainty, and weak business sentiment.”