No Boost Expected in German Labor Market Until 2005

Hopes that the German job market would soon liven up have been disappointed by the Halle Institute for Economic Research (IWH). There won't be a noticeable improvement until 2005 at the earliest, IWH labor market analyst Herbert Buscher said in an interview with the Berliner Zeitung newspaper. "Economic growth is not enough to create more jobs," he said. It must reach 1.8 to 2 percent for jobs to be created, Buscher explained, adding that forecasts indicated growth was unlikely to reach that level.