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The European Monitoring Centre on Change (EMCC), a part of the EU research body the European Foundation, regularly looks at cases of companies restructuring in the EU to see where jobs may be gained or lost. In their latest survey, October to December 2004 shows up as a period when the pace of change increased with both positive and negative results. Job losses in the area covered by the survey (the old EU 15 + Poland, the Czech Republic & Slovakia) were nearly 3 times greater than in the previous 3 months while job creation was up by 21/2 times. The chief sufferers were Germany which lost nearly 48,000 posts and Poland whose benefit of over 10,000 new jobs was more than cancelled out by nearly 52,000 losses. The UK had the highest number of restructuring cases (69), losing about 25,000 jobs while gaining 6,990. The survey states that the British economy is characterised by turbulence: 'the economic landscape in the UK is simultaneously changing and improving, while having to deal with the global pressures of outsourcing, and handling the long-term decline in its traditional manufacturing sector'.
The EU's statistical arm, Eurostat, has estimated the total amount received in tax by individual governments and come up with the percentage of national wealth (GDP) that this represents. Comparing the new members who joined last year to the older ones, every single newcomer has a lower percentage tax take than the EU average. The highest figure is the 51.4% of Sweden while the lowest is Lithuania's 28.7%; only Ireland and Spain of the pre-2004 members has a lower tax burden than the UK. The survey also breaks down tax into direct (e.g. income tax), indirect (e.g. VAT) and social security contributions (national insurance in the UK).
Taxes as % of Gross Domestic Product and by type | |||||
Member State |
TOTAL (% GDP) |
Indirect
|
Direct
|
Social Security (% all tax) | |
|
|
2003 |
1995 |
2003 |
2003 |
2003 |
|
Sweden |
51.4 |
50.2 |
34.0 |
36.4 |
29.6 |
|
Denmark |
49.8 |
50.1 |
34.9 |
59.6 |
5.4 |
|
Belgium |
48.1 |
47.1 |
28.8 |
36.5 |
34.6 |
|
France |
45.7 |
45.4 |
34.1 |
25.8 |
40.2 |
|
Finland |
45.1 |
46.7 |
31.9 |
41.0 |
27.1 |
|
Austria |
44.8 |
43.6 |
33.7 |
29.9 |
36.4 |
|
Italy |
43.2 |
42.0 |
34.2 |
35.3 |
30.5 |
|
Luxembourg |
42.3 |
43.6 |
32.9 |
37.7 |
29.4 |
|
EU15 Ave. |
41.8 |
42.0 |
33.4 |
32.2 |
34.4 |
|
Germany |
41.7 |
42.3 |
29.7 |
25.9 |
39.5 |
|
EU25 Ave. |
41.5 |
---- |
33.8 |
31.6 |
34.5 |
|
Slovenia |
40.3 |
41.1 |
41.6 |
20.8 |
37.6 |
|
Netherlands |
39.3 |
40.5 |
33.8 |
29.3 |
36.9 |
|
Hungary |
39.2 |
43.6 |
42,3 |
25.0 |
32.7 |
|
Greece |
38.6 |
34.7 |
37.2 |
23.3 |
39.5 |
|
Portugal |
38.1 |
34.5 |
41.9 |
24.6 |
33.5 |
|
United Kingdom |
37.1 |
36.7 |
36.9 |
42.0 |
21.0 |
|
Czech Republic |
36.2 |
36.2 |
31.4 |
27.0 |
41.6 |
|
Spain |
36.5 |
34.3 |
33.7 |
29.6 |
36.7 |
|
Poland |
35.8 |
39.4 |
41.8 |
19.7 |
38.5 |
|
Cyprus |
34.3 |
---- |
49.4 |
29.4 |
21.2 |
|
Malta |
34.2 |
31.3 |
40.8 |
35.5 |
23.8 |
|
Estonia |
33.4 |
37.9 |
39.3 |
26.1 |
34.5 |
|
Ireland |
31.2 |
35.2 |
41.4 |
39.5 |
19.1 |
|
Slovakia |
30.9 |
40.6 |
36.9 |
23.2 |
39.8 |
|
Latvia |
29.1 |
33.7 |
39.4 |
29.1 |
31.5 |
|
Lithuania |
28.7 |
28.6 |
41.5 |
28.2 |
30.3 |
|
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