Anyone looking for a rapid recovery from Europe’s deep and prolonged recession will find no comfort in the unemployment rate for the euro area in November. While the number was down from a measure of 11.9% in November of last year, any attempts to stimulate the euro area’s economy have largely failed. The primary victims of this lack of recovery have been working age young people.
According to Eurostat, the euro area’s progress, or lack thereof, compares unfavorably to the United States, where November’s unemployment rate was 5.8%, down from 7% in the same month a year ago.
Other key points from the Eurostat data:
Among the Member States, the lowest unemployment rates in November 2014 were recorded in Austria (4.9%) and Germany (5.0%), and the highest in Greece (25.7% in September 2014) and Spain (23.9%).
There are concerns that Greece will exit the European Union altogether, primarily because of the strict austerity measures it has been forced to accept. Germany, in particular, has insisted current austerity measures remain in place.
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However, the greatest long-term trouble in the euro area remains the unemployment level among the young. It guarantees that they will not be consumers during their early work lives as their parents had been. This trend could put another hole in the euro area’s gross domestic product as these young people reach what should be their primary years as consumers. Eurostat reports:
In November 2014, 5.101 million young persons (under 25) were unemployed in the EU 28 of whom 3.409 million were in the euro area. Compared with November 2013, youth unemployment decreased by 354 000 in the EU28 and 58,000 in the euro area. In November 2014, the youth unemployment rate was 21.9% in the EU28 and 23.7% in the euro area.
Also:
In November 2014, the lowest rates were observed in Germany (7.4%) Austria (9.4%) and the Netherlands (9.7%) the highest in Spain (53.5%), Greece (49.8% in September 2014), Croatia (45.5% in the third quarter 2014) and Italy (43.9%).
It is almost impossible to imagine that some countries suffer unemployment rates of half of their young populations. The numbers are so high that it is also impossible they can move to levels that would allow these young people to escape being part of a lost generation, at least economically.
Austerity measures or not, the unemployment problem among the euro area’s young will persist because it has done so for years now without resolution.
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