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UNEMPLOYMENT IN THE eurozone has hit the highest level since the introduction of the single currency, reaching 10.98 per cent in February.
The overall joblessness figure for the bloc was 10.7 per cent in January, with Spain being the country with the single highest rate of unemployment at 23.6 per cent.
Last year, the unemployment rate in the 17-country zone stood at 10 per cent in January and 9.5 per cent in February, according to figures released by Eurostat.
It is estimated that 24.5 million EU citizens were unemployed in February 2012, with 17.1 million of those being from eurozone countries.
The lowest recorded unemployment rates were in Austria (4.2 per cent), the Netherlands (4.9 per cent), Luxembourg (5.2 per cent) and Germany (5.7 per cent).
The highest rates were observed in Spain (23.6 per cent) and Greece (21 per cent).
Similar figures were seen in youth unemployment rates, with the lowest seen in Germany (8.2 per cent), Austria (8.3 per cent) and the Netherlands (9.4 per cent) and the highest seen in Spain (50.5 per cent) and Greece (50.4 per cent).
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The rich get richer and the poor get poorer. Europe is a failed exercise.
“Inflation and credit expansion, the preferred methods of present day government openhandedness, do not add anything to the amount of resources available. They make some people more prosperous, but only to the extent that they make others poorer.”
Ludwig von Mises (1881-1973), Austrian economist, Bureaucracy p. 84
Might be useful to include Ireland’s unemployment figures in the article…. #justsayin
14.2% or so as from this article http://www.tradingeconomics.com/ireland/unemployment-rate
@electronista tweeted this:
EU youth unemployment: 22.4%. Spain 50.5%, Greece 50.4%, Ireland 31.6%, France 21.7%, Italy 31.9%, Portugal 35.4%, UK 22.2%, Germany 8.2%
Which gives Ireland a youth unemployment rate of 31.6%. Rather high, no?
That being said, I scanned the eurostat report linked above and couldn’t see that info included.
oops @electionista. Nothing to do with electronics.
Spain is a much bigger Country than Ireland, and anyway do you honestly think Ireland will release accurate figures after what they showed themselves for what they are over the past weeks..LIARS@LIARS.com
Those stats from spain are very worrying especially the youth one.
Spain and Greece. Very high unemployment lots of young people with nothing to do. Wouldn’t surprise me if there was a big rise in social unrest in those countries over the next few months.
Projections for Spain for 12mths time are one in three of the workforce being unemployed. Can Spain survive as a society with that level of unemployment. It is going to have that shocking level of unemployment and then be asked by the EU to implement the austerity fiscal pact, which will push the economy in to further decline.
The Euro is a lead weight on our economy but it is going to kill Spain, Italy, Greece and Portugal.
More doom and gloom…. Ah well it’s Monday
Can’t understand how Spain is able to continue on…
Those figures from Greece and Spain on youth unemployment are crazy. I can’t help but think that Irelands youth would be similar if an enormous amount of our youth hadn’t left already. Deeply troubling that Germany is still dictating everything whilst other countries are going down the swanny. I was very pro Europe up to two years ago. It is clear now that no matter how many treaties or daft reforms they introduce, the thing just isn’t working, mainly because it is not a democracy and everything is dictated by two countries. Until that changes and the thing is rooted out from the bottom, I will remain anti the European project.
The countries that aren’t ‘working’ in Europe are the ones in greatest need of political, administrative and legal reform. How many tribunals has Ireland run? Despite hundreds of millions spent on revealing corruption and cronyism, has anything changed? Ireland isn’t in position to lecture the rest of Europe about reforms.
Oh because no corruption goes on in Germany or France. I also find it ironic that you don’t think Ireland is in a position to lecture about reforms because of its past, yet you think it’s ok for a country that was responsible for the largest genocide ever witnessed in world history is somehow morally ok to lecture in spite of their past? If we apply your rules there isn’t a country on the face of the planet could propose reform. Quite daft if you don’t mind me saying!
Yes to jobs!
If austerity was Working then where are the jobs that come with prosperity. The sad fact is austerity is the cause of this along with no investigation into the crisis. Governments all over Europe seem to think pumping money into the problem is going to fix the issue. The banks have failed in alot of these countries but propping them up seems to be the only priority of the governments. They don’t seem to have any ideas on how to fix the underlying issue the fact that the banks are not lending to each other means they know how bad each bank is in difficulty. Still austerity is a means of getting money from the populace so banks can use that money to prop one another up. It’s a never ending debt spiral that seems to be accepted by our own government and governments through out Europe. I wonder why?
Austerity is working so,just imagine how much higher that figure would be without austerity.
Good man Norman. Good to have you on board. We have Réada on our side too. All will be well. Vote Yes in the EU Referendum. We’ll get you Millions of Knobs, sorry Jobs…
My bad unable to type with a sarcastic tone.I think the % is higher but they can’t tell the peasents.
I know Norman. Just thought I’d try to get into the mindset of a FG supporter. I found I started talking in the third person. Weird! I’m better now. Vote NO. The EU in this form is a disaster.
Why arent the Spanish and Greeks emigrating or taking migrants in like Ireland??
Spain are taking migrants in. South americans, moroccans etc.
Many south americans have Spanish passports I guess. How are the Morroccans getting in to the country?
Boats. I have a friend in my class who is Moroccan and he’s told me just how easy it is for a Moroccan to sail illegally into Spain. As an example, an uncle of his friend has snuck into Spain illegally no less than 3 times in 15 years. You would wonder why anyone would willingly move to Europe but the truth is Spain offers a much better quality of life compared to what educated people in Morocco could hope for by staying.
If Kenny and Noonan emigrated to the greater eurozone, they could cheer up all the unemployed and struggling businesses with talk of recovery and corner turning. It is really is working in Ireland, isn’t it?
Go study engineering and get a manufacturing job. Easy!
Iwas in spain a few weeks and you never think there was that much un emloyment. I met more english people there than I could believe but I think the spanish are not to fond of them.
Check out this infographic comparing EU wages vs EU unemployment rates
http://www.targetonlinemarketing.com/en/blog/196-infographics-ireland-2012-eu-unemployment-vs-eu-minimum-wage.html
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