Brussels, 30/04/2013 (Agence Europe) - Labour market indicators have again taken a drastic turn. During March, with a rate of 12.1%, the eurozone reached a peak for unemployment. Although this gives a snapshot of the present moment when the situation is “unacceptable”, as Employment Commissioner Laszlo Andor put it, another indicator, this time more forward-looking, points to future prospects being just as gloomy. The confidence indicator of business leaders and consumers plummeted in April.
Just after the publication, on Tuesday 30 April, of the latest estimates from Eurostat (the EU's Statistical Office) for March, Andor was already voicing concern about the potential damage that could be done by “the unprecedented number of people out of work and the social emergency caused by the recession, unemployment and lack of growth”, which could damage “trust in political and economic systems across Europe”.
The recipe for addressing this situation will remain the same, however. Despite calls from every side, especially from the new Italian prime minister, Enrico Letta, the Commission's approach will not change. Andor has given a clear summary of what the Commission expects of member states: intervention on demand (lowering of labour costs), continued structural reforms (to give the labour market fresh impetus), and investment in training and in public services for employment.
Over one year, 19 member states have experienced a rise in unemployment. The unemployment rate fell in just eight states. During March, there has been a new general rise in unemployment in the eurozone, of 0.1%. Taking the EU as a whole, the rate has remained stable at 10.9%. The number of young people without work remained the same between February and March - 24% in the eurozone and 23.5% in the EU as a whole. The countries most affected by the crisis continue to see an inexorable rise in the number of their citizens without employment. Such is the case of Spain, where unemployment reached 26.7% in March, according to Eurostat. Madrid, however, at the same time warned that the rate would probably be around 27.2% at the end of the first quarter, with 57% of young people in Spain out of work. The situation is similar in Greece - 27.2% (January 2013) and 59.1% respectively.
The odd one out in this tendency is Germany, where the rate of unemployment has remained unchanged since September 2012, at 5.4%. However, if several indicators are to be believed, the most populated country of the EU is about to be caught up by the crisis. Its confidence indicator for business leaders and consumers, as presented by the European Commission on Monday 29 April, is among those of the eurozone that has fallen the most (-2.3%). Another index constitutes downward revision, that is stronger than predicted, of the net profits and sales by the car maker Daimler, a symbol of Germany's industrial power. Generally speaking, confidence is taking a plunge in Europe. The index showing this today stands at 88.6 points in the eurozone and 89.7 in the EU, with the falls between the months of March and April being 1.5 and 1.8 respectively. (JK/transl.jl).