Brussels, 13/04/2015 (Agence Europe) - There's every reason to believe that the economic recovery that began two years ago is spreading and beginning to bear fruit in terms of jobs, explained the European Commission on Monday 13 April in its quarterly review of employment and the social situation.
The Commission's statement is based on a string of figures that show a rise in employment in most sectors and virtually all member states, along with a constant, though small, fall in the unemployment rate, including amongst young people, an increase in permanent, full-time jobs and, for the first time since the crisis began, a fall in long-term unemployment.
EU Employment and Social Affairs Commissioner Marianne Thyssen said the review highlighted a number of encouraging signs on the job market, including the fact that 2.7 million jobs have been regained over the past two years. A Commission press release points out that the EU still has more than 23.8 million on the unemployment queue, 12 million of them for more than twelve months and one of every five young people available for work is unemployed.
The review ends on a cautiously optimistic note, saying that the situation is picking up but remains difficult for many people in Europe. There are huge challenges because unemployment remains close to its record high of 12% and is shared out very unevenly among member states. It remains high among young people. Long-term unemployment may have come down, but it remains at a challengingly high level because nearly half of the dole queue in Europe is in this category. Finally, the number of people who admit to suffering from financial problems has not fallen, and is rising among low-income households. (Jan Kordys)