Spain announced what economists claimed was good news. The National Statistics Institute (INE) reported that unemployment dropped to 23.67% in the third quarter (la tasa de paro es del 23,67%) from 24.47% in the second quarter. The figure remains staggeringly high, and it means Spain is years, or perhaps decades, from a complete recovery from the worst recession in decades. The number can only be considered a tiny improvement, but not a meaningful advance.
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The scars of the recession exist beyond Spain. The jobless number hovers around 25% in Greece. In the euro area the figure is 10.5%. Among people under 25 in the euro area, the number is 23.3%. According to Eurostat:
In August 2014, 4.989 million young persons (under 25) were unemployed in the EU28, of whom 3.332 million were in the euro area. Compared with August 2013, youth unemployment decreased by 602 000 in the EU28 and by 210 000 in the euro area. In August 2014, the youth unemployment rate was 21.6% in the EU28 and 23.3% in the euro area, compared with 23.5% and 23.9% respectively in August 2013. In August 2014, the lowest rates were observed in Germany (7.6%), Austria (8.2%) and the Netherlands (10.1%), and the highest in Spain (53.7%), Greece (51.5% in June 2014), Italy (44.2%) and Croatia (43.9% in the second quarter 2014).
For several years there has been a concern that young Americans who cannot find jobs would be something of a lost generation in terms of income. This remains true, as unemployment was 11.4% among people from ages 20 to 24 in the United States in September, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The figure is bad, but nothing compared to the worst off European countries. At least young Americans have a good chance of being self-supporting modest consumers, though their best years of earning may be delayed by several years. In much of Europe, that cannot possibly be the case.
Young people in parts of Europe are essentially economically doomed. Spain’s new unemployment numbers prove that.
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