A British departure from the European Union (EU) without a deal could put 6,00,000 jobs around the world at risk, with Germany the hardest hit, a study published on Monday found.
Researchers at the IWH institute in Halle, eastern Germany, examined what would happen if U.K. imports from the remaining EU fell 25% after Brexit. They reckoned that some 1,03,000 jobs would be under threat in Europe’s largest economy Germany and 50,000 in France.
A “hard” departure without a deal would see tariffs imposed at the border, “tangling up global supply chains”, study co-author Oliver Holtemoeller said in a statement.
The economists focussed only on trade in goods and services, leaving out other possible economic impacts of Brexit like changes to investment flows. Within the 27 remaining EU countries, a total of almost 1,80,000 posts at firms directly exporting to the U.K. would be at risk. But 4,33,000 more workers in the EU and around the world would be affected, as their employers sell to companies who in turn export to Britain.
