Brussels, 15/01/2013 (Agence Europe) - The social situation within the European Union remained “dramatic” in the third quarter of 2012. This is an adjective that has appeared regularly in European Commission publications for several years, but it is not always linked to the same realities. Long in first place, youth unemployment is still a subject of major concern. Yet in publishing, on Monday 14 January, the latest edition of the quarterly review on employment and the social situation in the EU, the Commission this time decided to focus on a factor which is more widespread at the moment because it affects a large number of Europeans - that of social exclusion and the risk of poverty.
The Commission believes that the EU's GDP has probably decreased by 0.5% in the 12 months of 2012. The general increase in unemployment, the decrease in the number of jobs and the increasing gap between the member states (North-South) are the few corollary effects of this. There are 26 million unemployed in the EU, who moreover have less chance than before of finding a job. One of the main implications of this situation is that today one European in four risks falling into poverty or into social exclusion. This probability has become worse in 18 member states over the last four years and it today concerns more than 126 million people.
Few positive points were highlighted by the review, with the exception of the pay gap between men and women which is shrinking. This is especially due - and it is the latest data which show a favourable development - to the increase in the number of women on the employment market. This is a rather unexpected consequence of the economic and financial crisis, but it can be explained as “a side effect of the crisis on the composition of the workforce, with male-dominated sectors losing ground relatively more than female-dominated ones”. Added to this, “more men are accepting part-time and temporary jobs”. (JK/transl.fl)