Emphasis needs to be placed on restraining and restructuring non-productive spending and making a more effective and efficient use of the public sector’s assets, creating in this way incentives to increase investment and employment which will contribute to increased potential output. For their part, the Institutions should show more flexibility in the area of fiscal targets and government debt relief.
Since July, nonfarm payroll employment has increased by 175,000 jobs per month on average, and the unemployment rate declined 0.3 percentage point to 7.9 percent over the same period.