The "Alliance for Jobs, Education and Competitiveness" has not only contributed to a more moderate wage policy but also to the rejection of exorbitant demands such as lowering the pension age to 60, and, indeed, to the improvement of the labour market. In his speech at the Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW) in Mannheim, the President of the Association of German Employers e.V. (BDA), Dr Dieter Hundt, argued, however, that instead of breaking down existing barriers to employment by further deregulation, the government was now planning laws which would introduce new restrictions in the labour market.
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