The personal and household services sector meet specific needs at different points in the human life cycle (early childhood, old age, etc.) in a context of changing lifestyles, brought about in part by women's increasing participation in the labour force. The services include both care services (for children, the dependent elderly or the disabled) and non-care services or household support service... Lire la suite
The economic crisis caused a steep rise in Spain's unemployment rate, from 8% in 2007 to a peak of over 26% in 2013. No other European Union (EU) country reached such levels of unemployment during the crisis except Greece, where the recession was three times as deep as in Spain.Beyond the severe economic downturn, specific characteristics of the Spanish labour market may have helped to drive up un... Lire la suite
Only eight of the 48 least developed countries (LDCs) listed by the United Nations are located in Asia. This sets them apart among both Asian countries and LDCs. Three–Myanmar, Cambodia and Lao–are located in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMR) of Southeast Asia. The World Bank includes them among its "Olympians of growth"-countries with some of the highest growth rates over the past 20 years.Are t... Lire la suite
Private investment as a share of the German economy has fallen since the mid-1990s. It stood at 21% of GDP at the time, and has stagnated below 18% of GDP since the 2008 crisis. After the post-reunification boom, construction slowed in the 2000s, and the investment downturn then spread to the rest of the economy.Since the crisis, German private investment has shifted away from equipment and toward... Lire la suite
A posted worker is an employee assigned temporarily by his or her employer to the territory of a Member State of the European Union other than the State in which he normally works and in which the employer is established. Unlike migrant workers-to whom the Community principle of free movement of persons applies-the posting of workers rests on the principle of free provision of services.France is t... Lire la suite
After a period of robust growth due to a catch-up effect until the mid-1990s, Italy experienced a sharper and earlier slowdown in labour productivity than its main partners. Italy was one of the European leaders in hourly labour productivity until the mid-1990s. This advantage has gradually narrowed. Today, Italian productivity is 20% below that of France and Germany.Italy's weak productivity perf... Lire la suite
In the United States, the financial crisis accelerated the decline in potential growth by about 0.7 points compared with 2003-2007. Most organisations estimate U.S. potential growth at 1.5-2.0% in 2016, down from a pre-crisis average of 2.5%.Approximately 40% of the observed decline in potential growth seems due to a lesser accumulation of capital stock. The sharp downturn in investment during the... Lire la suite
After remaining consistently above USD 100 per barrel from 2011 through mid-2014, oil prices have plummeted by more than 70% since the summer of 2014. The decline was initially attributed to a combination of weaker than expected global demand for crude oil and an abundant market supply. Since mid-2015 however, world oil demand has been essentially in line with expectations, and the drop appears mo... Lire la suite
In 2015, the world economy lost momentum. There were, however, strong geographic disparities. The advanced economies continued to expand, with the United States and United Kingdom posting a brisk performance. In the emerging economies, by contrast, the slowdown persisted. World activity is expected to recover by 2016 and accelerate in 2017, driven by the rebound of the emerging economies-after fiv... Lire la suite
Since the 2008-2009 financial crisis, world trade in goods and services has been struggling to regain its pre-crisis momentum. World trade growth averaged only 3% or so a year between 2012 and 2015, versus 6.7% a year between 2000 and 2008–a decrease due to weaker global economic growth and a decline in trade intensity of economic activity.Trade liberalisation and the increasing fragmentation of w... Lire la suite