Eurostat, ongoing unemploymentOver twenty percentage points separate the most "virtuous" country from the one with the highest unemployment rates in EU27. The figures on the job market released by Eurostat on July 2 signal a new increases in unemployment (11.1% in the 17 euro area countries – EA17); 10,3% in EU27. This shows that territorial unbalances are increasing. So while Austria has the lowest unemployment rate, 4,1% of the overall labour force, in Spain the unemployed amount to 24.6%. The States with the greatest difficulties in this field well over Community average include Greece (21,9%), Portugal, three Baltic republics, Slovakia, Bulgaria. Among the largest countries France and Italy register 10.1%, Poland 9.9%, the UK 8.1%. Germany is one of the countries (5,6%) where unemployment is most effectively countered. As relates to youth unemployment (Eurostat considers those under 25 seeking for a job; in Europe the mean figure is of 22%) Spain once more ranks first with 52.1%. But other nations have percentages close to 40% of young unemployed including Greece, Italy and Portugal. The European Commission released on the same day two researches accompanied by a set of legislative and operative proposals aimed at strengthening and improving traineeships and refresher courses offered by enterprises, considered "strategic" to bring the youth completing their high school studies into the job market and thus counter youth unemployment.The crisis discourages business and holiday tripsAt the opening of the new tourist season, Eurostat released data on the trends of recent years. "In 2011 residents of the EU27 made 1.2 billion trips for both leisure and business holiday and 165 million business trips". Figures refer to the trips made by EU residents, whether in their own country (75%), to another EU Member State or elsewhere in the world. After a "significant increase" between 2006 and 2008, the number of trips has since remained almost stable, with a minor decline in 2010, followed by a slight upward trend in 2011. "Examining holiday and business trips (less than 15% of all trips) separately, business trips were more affected by the financial crisis than holiday trips", Eurostat underlines. The highest numbers of both holiday and business trips were recorded by residents of Germany (215 million holiday trips and 56 million business trips), followed by France (204 mn and 21 mn), the United Kingdom (117 mn and 26 mn), Spain (122 mn and 17 mn)and Italy. However, business trips were the most affected by the crisis in the last four years. The largest decreases were found in Bulgaria (-60% from 2008 to 2011) and the Czech Republic (-51%). Conversely, the highest rates were registered in Estonia and Sweden. The highest falls in holiday travel were found in Italy (-19%) and Hungary (-13%). While holiday travel registered upward trends among Estonian and Czech citizens. "National" travel is preferred by Romanians, followed by the Spaniards and the Portuguese. In Luxembourg almost 100% of all holiday trips were outbound (for understandable reasons), followed by Belgians, Slovenians, Dutch and Austrian citizens. Roaming, lower pricesThe EU Commission decided to further decrease roaming prices. As of July 1st "using mobile internet to access maps, videos, photos, social networks and email will be much cheaper while travelling in other EU member states". A new EU regulation establishes a maximum charge for downloading data from the internet when using a mobile connection. "The data roaming rules will mean savings of over 1000 per year for a typical businessperson travelling in the EU", the Commission writes. "A family taking an annual holiday in another EU country can expect to save at least 200. (Full details of these data roaming case studies are available on the EU Commission website). The new rules will also cut the maximum prices for voice calls and texts. Commission Vice President Neelie Kroes said: "Price caps on data mean we have roaming for the smart phone generation. This ends the roaming rip-offs once and for all in the EU". The new maximum prices mobile users will face as of 1st July 2012 are: 29 cents per minute to make a call plus VAT, 8 cents per minute to receive a call, plus VAT, 9 cents to send a text message, plus VAT; 70 cents per Megabyte (MB) to download data or browse the Internet whilst travelling abroad.
