Brussels, 04/09/2013 (Agence Europe) - The scant upturn in economic growth has not yet been of benefit to anyone. Unemployment at a record high, increasing precariousness of employment for the Europeans lucky enough to have a job and an increase in poverty are all indicators leading the European Commission to state, in its latest quarterly re-examination of the social and employment situation, which was published on Wednesday 2 October, that the employment market and social conditions are still in a critical state, particularly in the more remote member states.
The publication of this quarterly review coincided with the Commission's presentation of its communication on the social dimension of the economic and monetary union (see EUROPE 10934). This is a lucky coincidence, as the former supports the latter. Whereas the communication aims, amongst other things, to provide tools for better coordination of the social and employment policies, the review of the current situation shows that disparities within the Eurozone are strong and, above all, constant. They are reflected in three realities: unemployment rates in the South and on the periphery of the Eurozone hit an average of 17.3% in 2012, compared to 7.1% in the North and centre of the same zone; a similar disparity can be seen in youth unemployment, with NEETs (not in education, employment or training) standing at 22.4% in the periphery and 11.4% in the centre; poverty, which currently threatens 24.1% of Europeans, has increased in two thirds of member states, but not in the other third.
In making this observation, the Commission wishes above all to stress that belonging to the same area means all being “in the same boat”. Indeed, this kind of social situation “hits the member states directly affected, but also spills over on to those more resistant to the effects of the crisis through reduced aggregate demand, eroded confidence and contagion via the financial markets. Divergence and spill-overs might threaten core objectives of the EMU”, the quarterly re-examination states. Is the EU coming close to the much hoped-for sustainable growth? Possibly, but this “will be all the more challenging” as the “uneven impact of the crisis within the countries”, together with the budgetary cleansing policies, has caused “rising inequality with fiscal consolidation being most felt by the lower income groups hardest hit by job losses,”, the Commission states. (JK/transl.fl)