Brussels, 28/06/2016 (Agence Europe) - In the latest edition of its EU Employment and Social Situation Quarterly published on Tuesday 28 June, the European Commission highlights that, in the space of a year, three million more people are in employment, proving, it argues, the success of European policies.
The rise in the number of people who have a job is accompanied by a fall in the number of long-term unemployment rate, down by 0.6% compared with 2015 to 4.3% of the labour force. This is the largest reduction since the first decline in long-term unemployment observed in 2014, the Commission observes.
The quarterly review also draws attention to the continuous improvement and convergence among member states on unemployment among young people aged under 25, which has decreased more strongly in countries most affected by the 2008 crisis.
It also, however, highlights a number of persistent problems, for example, with regard to the so-called NEETs (young people not in education, employment or training) where marked differences are apparent between member states. In Italy, over 20% of young people fall into the NEET category whereas, in the Netherlands, it is less than 5%.
Employment Commissioner Marianne Thyssen is clear that there is much more to do and that it “remains a challenge to reach those furthest away from the labour market”. She said she hoped that, “together with the member states, we can make work as quickly as possible of initiatives such as the Recommendation on Long-Term Unemployment and the New Skills Agenda for Europe”.
The message from the Commission is hopeful. “These positive developments show that our efforts to create jobs and fight unemployment at EU and national level are starting to pay off”, said Thyssen. (Original version in French by Maëlle Didion)
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