Indeed, the level of slack exceeds the rise in unemployment because hours worked have been cut for workers who have remained employed, while other potential workers have withdrawn from (or remained outside of) the labour market in response to poor job-search prospects. Estimates of these other forms of slack are discussed later in this section, after a fuller analysis of the impact of the recession on conventional employment and unemployment measures. The increase in unemployment has been especially sharp in Spain and Ireland, just over 10 and 8 percentage points, respectively.