Employment and social development in Europe : Quarterly review Summer 2016

The labour market trends observed since 2013, as well as survey data and economic forecasts, suggest a moderately positive outlook. GDP growth continues which can help sustain the labour market recovery. Household incomes improve, supported by better income from work which, in turn, should feed growing private consumption. The economic sentiment and employment expectations continue to improve, while unemployment expectations stabilised. On the other hand, there are some signs of a slowdown in economic activity and job creation in the first half of 2016, and medium-term forecasts have been revised slightly downward for the EU and EA. The Commission Spring Forecast of May 2016 suggests that economic recovery will continue at a more modest pace in 2016 (1.8%) and 2017 (1.9%), and together with recent reforms would induce good labour market performance, albeit at a slow and uneven pace across Member States. Unemployment is forecast to decline gradually to 8.9% in 2016 and 8.5% in 2017 in the EU, and 10.3% in 2016 and 9.9% in 2017 in the EA