including by developers abroad ) to create balance sheet vulnerabilities threatening the stability of the state, and deluding it into thinking it was running a sustainable fiscal policy, when in fact it too was building up unsustainable commitments financed by insecure and transient revenue sources. ii. contrasts in the evolution of the main macro aggregates both recessions were extremely deep and protracted. but there are interesting differences in timing and dynamics. take just four indicators : employment, unemployment, asset prices and government debt. ( a ) employment : faster and deeper fall and for both men and women in the 2000s here the interesting contrast is across the gender divide. in the 1980s, the adverse shock to employment produced an overall fall of about 7 per cent over 8 years. the decline in female employment was much smaller. the big movements were in male employment, which fell further and did not fully recover until 1996. there was a huge fall of 20 % in male employment between 2007 and 2012 ; female employment also fell sharply in this period ( 8½ % decline peak to trough ). these were faster and deeper falls than in the 1980s. the employment recovery in both male and female employment started in 2012, but total employment is still about 12½ % below the peak at the time of writing. ( b ) unemployment : tracking the uk in both periods : but went much higher in the 1980s with migration as an important balancing mechanism, trends in unemployment in ireland do not always closely track those in employment. one astonishing regularity, which has persisted through both crises, is the close manner in which the dynamics of irish unemployment has tracked that in the uk ( and not that in the euro area ). the surge in unemployment rates was higher in the 1980s, despite a smaller dip in employment. unemployment had already been high during the 1970s, and the late 1970s recovery was moderate. rates surged to record levels against the background of the contemporary recession in uk. indeed, there was a double dip in unemployment rates into 1992. in contrast, the 2008 crash had been preceded by a 6 – 7 year period of full employment ( measured unemployment rate around 4 % ). despite the contemporary global financial crisis and the euro area crisis, irish unemployment rates peaked below 1980s levels and, helped by stronger labour market developments in uk, started to turn down from 2012. ( c ) asset prices : much larger swings in the recent crisis here there is a big contrast. the early case did not show huge shifts in asset prices. 1980 marked the

christine lagarde : ecb press conference - introductory statement introductory statement by ms christine lagarde, president of the european central bank, and mr luis de guindos, vice - president of the european central bank, frankfurt am main, 30 april 2020. * * * ladies and gentlemen, the vice - president and i are very pleased to welcome you to our press conference. we will now report on the outcome of today ’ s meeting of the governing council, which was also attended by the commission executive vice - president, mr dombrovskis. the euro area is facing an economic contraction of a magnitude and speed that are unprecedented in peacetime. measures to contain the spread of the coronavirus ( covid - 19 ) have largely halted economic activity in all the countries of the euro area and across the globe. survey indicators for consumer and business sentiment have plunged, suggesting a sharp contraction in economic growth and a profound deterioration in labour market conditions. given the high uncertainty surrounding the ultimate extent of the economic fallout, growth scenarios produced by ecb staff suggest that euro area gdp could fall by between 5 % and 12 % this year, depending crucially on the duration of the containment measures and the success of policies to mitigate the economic consequences for businesses and workers. as the containment measures are gradually lifted, these scenarios foresee a recovery in economic activity, although its speed and scale remain highly uncertain. inflation has declined as a result of the sharp fall in oil prices and slightly lower hicp inflation excluding energy and food. the decisive and targeted policy measures that we have taken since early march have provided crucial support to the euro area economy and especially to the sectors most exposed to the crisis. in particular, our measures are supporting liquidity conditions and helping to sustain the flow of credit to households and firms, especially small and medium - sized enterprises ( smes ), and to maintain favourable financing conditions for all sectors and jurisdictions. we welcome the measures taken by euro area governments and the european institutions to ensure sufficient healthcare resources and to provide support to affected companies, workers and households. at the same time, continued and ambitious efforts are needed, notably through joint and coordinated policy action, to guard against downside risks and to underpin the recovery. in line with our mandate, the governing council is determined to continue to support households and firms in the face of the current economic disruption and heightened uncertainty, in order to safeguard medium - term price stability. accordingly, the governing council decided today to further ease the conditions