Brussels, 31/10/2013 (Agence Europe) - In September, 61,000 more Europeans joined the already long dole queues. This figure is too low to be reflected in the seasonally adjusted levels announced by Eurostat (the EU Statistics Office) on Thursday 31 October. Nonetheless, it confirms that the signs of economic recovery in Europe have yet to translate into creating jobs. European Commissioner for Social Affairs and Employment Laszlo Ando, said that “the number of unemployed is too high and continues to threaten robust economic recovery in the EU as a whole”.
The euro area unemployment rate was 12.2% in September 2013 and, in the EU as a whole, it stood at 11%. These figures remained stable compared to those for August, despite the increase observed in the number of job seekers. Only four member states experienced significant variations in their unemployment rates. Unemployment rates increased in Hungary by 0.3% to a level of 17.2% and by 0.2% in Cyprus (17.1%). Lithuania, on the other hand, experienced a fall of 0.2% (11.9%), as did Portugal (16.3%). Unemployment rates among young people in Europe aged under 25 was revised upwards and increased from 24% to 24.1% over a month in the euro zone, while remaining stable in the EU as a whole. (JK/transl.fl)