CALDEIRÃO DE BOLSA

Ever heard of the four PIGS? This less than flattering acronym stands
for Portugal, Italy, Greece and Spain, four members of the eurozone
which are in much deeper trouble than they are prepared to admit.
They are often considered the ‘antidote’ to the BRIC countries, the fast
growing emerging market economies of Brazil, Russia, India and
China. One of the PIGS’ (many) problems is escalating unit labour
costs. Bearing in mind that the OECD numbers for Greece and Portugal
do not yet include 2007, the conclusion we can draw from table 1 is
that, since the introduction of the euro, the PIGS have lost
competitiveness to Germany at a frightening pace.

So has Ireland, by the way, hence its current predicament. On the other
hand, Brazil (the only BRIC country on which the OECD reports unit
labour costs) scores very well on this account, a fact which is not going
to make life any easier for the PIGS.