Surging unemployment rates

Unemployment levels are on the increase in EU27 and 20 million are not working, a quarter of whom are young people. Despite the reassuring statements by European leaders, EU27 citizens are concerned that they may lose their jobs in the crisis. The findings of Eurostat and Eurobarometer (the EU’s Statistical Office and survey reports) confirm this trend. Youth unemployment rate represents 25% of all unemployed. Eurostat confirmed a 0.8% unemployment rate increase in the period January – March 2009 compared to the previous three months, amounting to almost 2 million peoples who lost their jobs. Compared to the first quarter of 2008, total unemployment rates increased by 1.2%, 20 million are unemployed. According to the statistics bureau, highest levels of job losses are recorded in Latvia, Lithuania, Spain and Hungary, followed by Portugal, Sweden, Finland, the U.K., Poland and Italy, while people in Luxembourg, Greece and the Netherlands have experienced comparatively fewer job losses. The Eurostat survey on those aged 15-24 found that in the EU27 five million are unemployed. “After three years of decline, the EU unemployment rate started to rise in the first quarter of 2008 in the wake of the economic crisis”, states the report. In the first quarter of 2009, youth unemployment rate in the EU27 was 18.3%, significantly higher than the total unemployment rate of 8.2%. In the Euro area (EA16), over 3 million young people are not working. The largest rises in the youth unemployment rate were registered in Latvia (from 11.0% to 28.2%), Estonia and Lithuania, and the smallest rises were found in Germany (from 10.2% to 10.5%) and Poland (from 17.8% to 18.2%). The worse has yet to come? On the basis of the findings, Eurobarometer carried out a survey on citizens’ level of concern on the crisis and unemployment rates in the EU 27. Accordingly, a large majority of Europeans believe that the crisis will further affect the job market while a third of those in work are concerned that they will lose their jobs. The findings of the survey were presented July 24 in Brussels. Commissioner Vladimir Spidla said he was not surprised with the outcome of the survey. “Understandably, Europeans are concerned about the impact of the crisis on their jobs and families”, he remarked. “”That’s why action has been taken at a European level since the very beginning of the crisis to limit its impact on jobs. We have recently introduced microcredits for people who want to start their own business, proposed 100% funding of ESF for the next two years to allow for continuous training of workers, and urged Member States to make 5 million apprenticeships available for young people who leave school. These measures will help keep Europeans in jobs and help them back into jobs if they lose theirs”, he added. “I know of a colleague who…”. The survey found that 3.5% of working Europeans (who appear to be far less optimistic than Commissioner Splidla) said they personally experienced job losses “due to the economic crisis”; 24% know a colleague who has lost their job and 36% know someone from among their friends or family who has been affected. 32% said they are “very concerned” that they may lose their jobs in the future, with “more people worried about their partner (38%) or children (47%)”. According to the report, “the level of concern is strongly linked to the reported incidence of job losses; citizens of those countries which have experienced the most job losses are also most concerned about further job cuts”. EU’s role and the Social Fund. The concern about job losses is explained and compounded by the fact that at least 6 in 10 Europeans feel that the worst of the economic crisis is yet to come, with the highest levels in the Baltic countries” (82% in Latvia, 76% in Estonia and 74% in Lithuania think the worst impact is still to be felt). “And only 28% think it has reached its peak”. In Countries which have implemented “comprehensive flexicurity approaches”, the outlook is more confident. “45% of Swedes and 36% of Danes think that the peak of the crisis is now in the past”. The survey found that “about one in four of those Europeans not working say they will take up any job”. In terms of the EU’s role in employment, “52% of Europeans consider it to be positive” while a third of Europeans “are aware of the European Social Fund (ESF), the EU’s main tool to support those who may lose their jobs as a result of the crisis”.