Unit labour costs and current accounts of deficit countries have improved – not only because of shrinking imports, but also because of expanding exports. Factors of production are being reallocated to sectors with a strong focus on exports. The construction sector in Ireland accounted for over half of the decrease in aggregate employment; in Spain, Italy and Portugal, it accounted for around two-fifths.
In industry, by contrast, either far fewer jobs have been cut or – as in Ireland – new jobs have recently been created. BIS central bankers’ speeches  3  Real value added, in particular, far exceeded its pre-crisis level in the export-intensive information and communications sector in Spain and Ireland as early as in 2012.