The International Labour Organization have released their World of Work Report for 2013. The Report Includes an ‘EU Snapshot’ which addresses youth unemployment and the youth guarantee, it also gives a very good macro-level insight into the crisis. Some statements from the report below.
Firstly, there are over 10 million more unemployed people in the EU in 2013 than in 2008. Unemployment has been increasing consistently since the onset of the crisis, but has increased at an alarming rate over the past year. A core reason for this is that austerity measures are having a very negative impact on employment. Or to put it another way, we are currently experiencing the social after effects of the 2008 economic shock.
The Snapshot also points to a further polarisation of Europe. Only 5 EU countries are currently experiencing employment levels higher than pre-crisis level, these are: Austria, Germany, Hungary, Luxembourg and Malta. In some countries (Cyprus, Greece, Portugal, and Spain) employment rates have decreased by over 3%.
Austerity measures have reduced national debt at the expense of employment. As a result there is an increase in long-term unemployment. At the end of 2012 there were 11 million people unemployed for 12 months or more in the EU. In most EU countries over 40% of unemployed people are long-term unemployed. The largest increases in long-term unemployment have been recorded in Estonia. Ireland, Lithuania and Spain.
Youth unemployment stands at 23.5%. The only country that has experienced a decline in youth unemployment since 2008 is Germany. Almost 30% of youth in the EU were at risk of poverty or social inclusion in the EU in 2011. The rate has most likely increased even further since then.
Less people are working in stable, full time employment as temporary and part-time employment has increased in the majority of EU countries.
Amazingly the EU has experienced the sharpest increase in the risk of social unrest internationally between 2006 and 2012, with an increase of over 10%. As a point of contrast the likelihood of social unrest increased by just under 6% in the Middle East and North Africa and less than 2% in Sub-Saharan Africa. The countries that experienced the sharpest increase of social unrest between 2010 and 2012 were Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Slovenia and Spain. The risk of social unrest declined in Belgium, Germany, Finland and Sweden.
The ILO is calling for a stronger emphasis on pro-employment programmes, a commitment to effective welfare entitlements, and for increased efforts to be made in reducing wasteful spending and fighting tax evasion. It is also calling for increased cooperation between public employment services in Europe.
