Religions and unemployed in EU

Upsetting figures were released on the first day of the Holy Week. Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Commission tasked with providing the EU with statistics at European level, released the latest findings of a survey on unemployment in the EU and in euro area countries. According to the findings, from February 2011 to February 2012 1.8 million Europeans lost their jobs, while unemployment rates slightly increased compared to the previous month, amounting to 10.8% in euro area and 10.2% in EU27. The situation differs at national level. While in Austria, in The Netherlands, in Luxembourg and in Germany unemployment rates go from 4% to 6%, unemployment rates greatly worsened in Spain (23.6%) and Greece (21,0%), compared to the previous year, although Greece registered the highest increase (by almost 7% from 2010 to 2011). Italy (9.3%), France (10.0%) and Poland (10.2%) rank average at European level.The situation of European youth is sadly acknowledged. In February 2012, 5.462 million young persons (under 25) were unemployed in the EU27, of whom some 3.3 million were in the euro area. In the same period, unemployment hit more than one every five youths, and more than half of all young people in Spain and in Greece. Moreover, black labour is an undeniable fact. According to estimates it accounts for at least 15% of economic performance in the EU. But recent figures signal a pejorative trend, affecting the weakest social brackets in particular. Unemployment is an urgent issue also within religious traditions, as highlighted in a survey titled "Convergences: decent work and social justice in religious traditions", released in Geneva February last by the International Labour Organization (ILO), with the support of the World Council of Churches, the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue (PCID) and the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO). The handbook presents the values underlying OLI activity, and encompasses abstracts of major statements. The publication also explores the specific contribution and commitments of Catholicism, Protestantism, Islam, Judaism and Buddhism to social justice, dignity at work, forced or child labour and economic rights.The authors of the handbook didn’t seek to provide a synopsis. Rather, they assembled a repository of information on religious, philosophical and spiritual perspectives which shows a convergence of values whereby all religions acknowledge the ethical value of labour, as it enables people to earn a living and fulfil their humaneness. Religions equally highlight the need for an institutional and economic environment that will promote individual academic and professional skills. As Pope Benedict XVI highlighted in the encyclical Caritas in Veritate: "In comparison with the casualties of industrial society in the past, unemployment today provokes new forms of economic marginalization, and the current crisis can only make this situation worse. Being out of work or dependent on public or private assistance for a prolonged period undermines the freedom and creativity of the person and his family and social relationships, causing great psychological and spiritual suffering. I would like to remind everyone, especially governments engaged in boosting the world’s economic and social assets, that the primary capital to be safeguarded and valued is man, the human person in his or her integrity". Europe’s debt crisis has influenced the action of the governments of the Member States of the European Union and its institutions over the past years. Now this crisis appears to have reached a standstill. The wisdom of all major religious traditions and the latest figures on employment in Europe converge in prioritizing labour-boosting economic growth.