Striking airline workers, claiming a rise of 9.8%, have grounded scores of Lufthansa flights this week.Upward pressure on pay is likely to lead to more job losses in Italy and Spain, which are already struggling with poor competitiveness and rising unemployment.
Will China's exports hit the same barrier as a result of weakening competitiveness, or rising protectionism An IMF working paper published in 2009 calculated that if China remained as dependent on exports as in recent years, then to sustain annual GDP growth of 8% its share of world exports would rise to about 17% by 2020.
As a consequence of the increase in participation, competitiveness has risen and the development of training protocols which are specific to the discipline and to the population has become more and more important.
Moreover, the country's rising competitiveness in many sectors has made it an attractive export base.
Many Germans also view the Anglo-American infatuation with the financial industry as the root of the West's decline in competitiveness with the rising East.
The rapid recovery reflects the strength of the German export sector, which was enhanced by the fact that many European countries lost competitiveness because of rising labor costs.
High inflation has hurt the economy's competitiveness, imports are rising rapidly and energy problems are mounting from the lack of foreign investment.
"The fact that companies remain reluctant to take on staff — due to the need to cut costs to boost competitiveness and offset rising oil prices suggests that there's a long way to go before the recovery feeds through to a meaningful job market improvement," Mr. Williamson said.
But better competitiveness has led to rising exports and a workable base for future expansion.
Siemens A.G., Germany's biggest electronics company, said today that it would eliminate about 1,800 jobs in two units to increase competitiveness amid concern that rising interest rates might slow economic growth and corporate earnings.
The country doesn't stay depressed forever: high unemployment leads to actual or at least relative deflation, which gradually improves cost-competitiveness, which leads to rising net exports and gradual expansion.
