Eurozone Unemployment Breaks Records - Eurostat: July 2012

[C. Flower]

A dramatic divide has opened up across Europe between economies that are losing and gaining jobs.

The lowest rates were in Germany (7.9%), Austria (8.3%) and the Netherlands (9.2%), and the highest in Greece (52.1% in March 2012) and Spain (52.1%).

German unemployment is at an all time low since reunification.
Spanish and Greek youth unemployment is more than 50%.

Euro area unemployment rate at 11.1%

EU27 at 10.3%

The euro area (EA17) seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate was 11.1% in May 2012, compared with 11.0% in April

It was 10.0% in May 2011. The EU27 unemployment rate was 10.3% in May 2012, compared with 10.2% in April

It was 9.5% in May 2011.

Eurostat estimates that 24.868 million men and women in the EU27, of whom 17.561 million were in the euro area, were unemployed in May 2012.

Compared with April 2012, the number of persons unemployed increased by
151 000 in the EU27 and by 88 000 in the euro area. Compared with May 2011, unemployment rose by 1.952 million in the EU27 and by 1.820 million in the euro area.

These figures are published by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.

Among the Member States, the lowest unemployment rates were recorded in Austria (4.1%), the Netherlands (5.1%), Luxembourg (5.4%) and Germany (5.6%), and the highest in Spain (24.6%) and Greece (21.9% in March
2012).

Compared with a year ago, the unemployment rate fell in eight Member States, increased in eighteen, and remained stable in Hungary. The largest falls were observed in Estonia (13.6% to 10.9% between the first
quarters of 2011 and 2012), Lithuania (15.7% to 13.7%) and Latvia (17.1% to 15.3% between the first quarters of 2011 and 2012).

The highest increases were registered in Greece (15.7% to 21.9% between March 2011 and March 2012), Spain (20.9% to 24.6%) and Cyprus (7.5% to 10.8%).

Between May 2011 and May 2012, the unemployment rate for males increased from 9.8% to 10.9% in the euro area and from 9.5% to 10.3% in the EU27. The female unemployment rate rose from 10.3% to 11.3% in the euro area and from 9.6% to 10.4% in the EU27.

In May 2012, 5.517 million young persons (under 25) were unemployed in the EU27, of whom 3.412 million were in the euro area. Compared with May 2011, youth unemployment rose by 282 000 in the EU27 and by 254 000 in the euro area.

In May 2012, the youth unemployment rate was 22.7% in the EU27 and 22.6% in the euro area. In May 2011 it was 21.0% and 20.5% respectively.



In May 2012, the unemployment rate was 8.2% in the USA and it was 4.4% in Japan.

http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/cac...2012-AP-EN.PDF

[Ephilant]

Today, EU unemployment runs at 11.3%, which roughly translates into 55 million people without work in the 27 EU countries.

Against that back ground, the leaked internal memo from the EU regarding pay rises for 33,000 EU apparatchiks is a slap in the face to any right thinking person.
Especially the sentence in the memo justifying this increase with

there is no serious and sudden deterioration in the economic and social situation within the European Union.

The EU commission has agreed to deviate from the standard 1.7% increase these people would have gotten on July 1 st, and agreed instead that the increase should match the 5.74% received by the German civil servants....

http://www.bild.de/politik/inland/be...7420.bild.html

[Dr. FIVE]

EU youth unemployment: 22.5%

Greece 53.8%, Spain 52.9%, Italy 35.3%, Portugal 36.4%, Ireland 30.7%, France 23.4%, UK 21.7%, Germany 8%

[Ephilant]

EU youth unemployment: 22.5%

Greece 53.8%, Spain 52.9%, Italy 35.3%, Portugal 36.4%, Ireland 30.7%, France 23.4%, UK 21.7%, Germany 8%

They are the youth unemployment figures, anybody under 25.
I'm referring to the overall unemployment figure of 11.3% for July 2012

http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/tgm...ion=1&plugin=1

[Dr. FIVE]

Yes I know, just making note of them

[Ephilant]

Don't worry, all is well.

there is no serious and sudden deterioration in the economic and social situation within the European Union.

The EU has said so...

[Ephilant]

Greece has hit a new record and leads the pack again in Europe.
Overall unemployemnt: 26.8%, youth unemployement 56.6%. this is after the cull of 123,000 people under the age of 30 who emigrated to Germany to find work there and do not appear on the unemployment lists in Greece any longer...

Meanwhile, in fantasy land, Jean Claude Juncker has warned the Eurozone members that

we are going to lose the support of the working classes.

Not **** JC. Personally, I think it is too late to worry about that. After the TROIKA, on behalf of amongst others the EU, destroyed the social coherence of Greece, and nullified all our labour laws, social protection laws, health protection laws, JC states that in his esteemed opinion

We need a basis of social rights for workers, minimum social rights for workers, including of course one essential thing, a minimum wage -- a legally compulsory minimum wage in the euro-zone member states

With the minimum wages in the 17 EZ members set at anything between 1.70 € per hour (Slovakia) or 1.90 € (Portugal) and 10.41 € per hour (Luxembourg), setting a uniform minimum wage is going to be a bit of a problem...
Or is JC maybe warning the countries in the northern EU that their time has now come to put the booth in and bring wage costs down to Greek/Bulgarian level?

[C. Flower]

Spanish youth unemployment is now over 60 %

Flash mob, musicians in an unemployment office.

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/...office/267084/

[morticia]

60% is totally ridiculous. Why can't we have some more quantitative easing?? EU policy seems completely designed for the convenience of the Germans and few others; why can't the periphery manage a more united front and a higher impact? The US would support more liberal measures, too

[Ephilant]

EU policy seems completely designed for the convenience of the Germans and few others; why can't the periphery manage a more united front and a higher impact?

Why can't the periphery manage a more united front? They are presenting a united front, bowing to the God Of More : Hail the Troika...
Just look at who is running the show in the periphery. In your country you have a bunch who, by all accounts, couldn't manage an orgy in brothel, and you want them to actually do something significantly worth while? Their most daring act lately was reportedly a stunt with silk ties. Del boys operating on European level?
Our bunch keeps losing USB sticks etc., or they "forget" to declare 1 million euro income, or they answer a straight forward yes/no question with "present". While our unemployment figures are even higher than Spain, the Antonis Samaras Magical Mystery Tour amuses itself with devising systems to extract even more tax out of people who literally have nothing, while the airplane tickets used to take taxable money out of the country and stash it in a foreign bank account have been made tax deductable as of yesterday...
The Spanish bunch are interested in banks only. Not that they have any left, but, as history tells us, pretending is as good as having, and costs even more to maintain. Why pretend to play with 50 billion if you can pretend to play with 500 billion?
The Portuguese pay their people to leave the country and stay out.
The Italians can't make up their mind between an appointed IMF puppet or a self-serving clown with a mid-life crisis the size of the universe. Either way, Italy will not benefit, nor will the Italian people.

But make no mistake, things are brewing up. There is this man called Ganley (sorry Kev, only joking ) Tsipras, the most dangerous politician in Europe. He is quietly working away, meeting various groups of people on the rise in the various periphery countries, and alliances are being forged. Including in France and Germany. Don't know about Ireland. It's hard to see anybody there who would be willing to get down and dirty, unless it's for their own benefit. And even then.

As for EU policies designed for the convenience of the Germans, no, it's an unfortunate mis-conception. I have a friend staying, from Berlin, and she tells me a totally different story from what this mis-conception would have us believe. She tells stories of wide-spread poverty, ill health, hidden unemployment, exploitating and other tales that have become the norm here.
The policies are designed for the benefit of huge companies, most of which are based in Germany, or have German origins. But the German people do not benefit from these companies, far from it. She tells tales of corruption, massaging of bank figures, high level bribery and client based politics. You would swear she's talking about Greece.
Personally, I think this myth of the Germans (as in German People) benefiting from all of this is kept alive and fostered on purpose, so that people would not concentrate on the real beneficiaries. And who better to blame for our woes than the Germans. After all, weren't they responsible for all the other problems throughout history? Guaranteed success, because people are like children Put something seemingly interesting in front of them, and they will not look past that to see the really interesting things. Point the finger at "The Germans", and the will not see "Finance" as the real cause of their woes.