8: Germany

Germany seems to be doing very well compare to most countries with high GDP rates. Right now Germany’s unemployment rate is at 5.1 percent, but most experts believe that unemployment rate will decline further in the near future.

Despite the fact that there were more jobs last year, unemployment had at first risen, but eventually declined towards the end of the year.  This was partly due to the amount of untrained and long-term unemployed workers returning to the labor force.

According to a specialist at Berenberg Bank, Germany is expected to raise its wages in order to feed higher consumption rates. This will allow Germany to rely on domestic demand for growth instead of an unreliable export caused by the global crisis.