Jobs Will Go If Euro Stays Strong

The rising strength of the euro could ultimately lead to job cuts, after Airbus today said it was contemplating laying off a proportion of its staff if prices remain strong over the near future.

The company’s Chief Operating Officer was quoted as saying today that it would need an additional one billion euros in order to fund an employee savings fund, which was set up at the base rate of $1.35 a euro several years ago.

He further added that Airbus would be forced to move more of its purchasing trade outwith the EU to the US in order to benefit from the weakened dollar, which it hopes will help reclaim some of the deficit in the short term.

The euro was today trading at an all time high against the dollar, well through the landmark $1.40 up to $1.4120, which has made sales from within Europe more expensive, and fixed rate savings plans more unmanageable for companies like Airbus.

The company has announced that should the euro up to around the $1.45 mark it will be unable to sustain its operation at present, and its savings plan would be simply untenable over its current staff base.

Many market analysts have criticised the strneght of the euro for its negative impact on economic growth, which has been fairly stagnant over the thirteen nation eurozone over the course of this year.

It is feared that a consistently strong euro will hurt new startup businesses looking to trade outwith the EU, which could lead to many new and existing jobs facing the axe before too long.

With the European economy already suffering from a slowdown through taking the brunt of the sub-prime US crisis, analysts are fearing that the continuing high price of the euro could do more to harm the economy in the medium term.

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