It should be easier to fire people in Europe says Alan Greenspan, former chairman of the US Federal Reserve. The 81-year-old banker made his remarks during a press conference on Saturday afternoon in the Amsterdam Concertgebouw.

Greenspan told reporters unemployment in America is structurally lower than in Europe because of the ‘hire and fire’ policy. ‘Employers in Europe don’t take people on so quickly because if things go wrong it costs them too much money to fire them,’ he told the assembled press.
Greenspan was invited to Amsterdam to promote his book A Turbulent Time. According to Saturday’s AD, Greenspan made Amsterdam his first port of call on his European promotion tour at the invitation of ING which, anonymous sources say, cost them €100,000.