Throughout the 1990s, the labour market has shown an unfavourable development, with unemployment noticeably on the increase. Until 1997, the main reasons underlying this development were a relatively low average rate of economic growth, the 1993 recession, and strong productivity increases in...

Between 1995 and 1997, the member states of the European Union succeeded in reducing their government deficits from an average of 5 to 2½ percent of GDP. Economic growth remained sluggish throughout the period, but the recession expected by many as a consequence of restrictive fiscal policies...