keep reminding readers that our trade with our neighbours is part of our economy and not something somewhere else. Nearly 2 million more unemployed in one quarter when Eurozone banking is still in crisis is a horrific figure.
Christina Speight
EU OBSERVER 15.6.09
EU job losses approach 2m in first quarter
ANDREW WILLIS
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – Approximately 1.9 million people lost their jobs in the European Union during the first three months of this year, according to new figures released by the EU's statistics office, Eurostat, on Monday (15 June).
The fall – the largest on record since counting began – highlights the deepening crisis in the EU's job market and contrasts sharply with the growing number of statements predicting a ‘bottoming out' of the current recession.
In its latest economic report this month, the European Central Bank said it expects a return to positive growth by mid-2010, yet analysts say unemployment will continue to rise after this date.
A recent European Commission communication on employment called on member states to step up measures to combat the rising unemployment.
"There is a general effort at the EU level to limit the effects of unemployment as much as possible," the commission's employment spokewoman, Katharina von Schnurbein, told EUobserver on Monday.
EU leaders are expected to endorse the document when they meet in Brussels later this week, but the final decision on whether to implement new measures - such as extra training for unemployed citizens - continues to be taken at the national level.
Eurostat said approximately 224 million men and women were employed in the EU27 in the first quarter of this year.
Lisbon Strategy
How best to tackle rising unemployment will be a central issue of the Swedish and Spanish presidencies of the EU that start next month and January 2010 respectively.
At the same time, the debate on unemployment looks set to be accompanied by growing discussions on what should replace the current Lisbon Strategy
[nb nothing to do with the Lisbon Treaty! -cs] when it expires in 2010.
The strategy - the long-term growth plan to make the EU "the most dynamic and competitive knowledge-based economy in the world" - underwent a mid-term review in late 2004, but member states have continued to face criticism over inaction.
The commission has defended the programme however.
"If we hadn't had the Lisbon Strategy we would be much worse off, as many member states made adjustments in the last five years, which will limit the negative effects of the crisis," said Ms von Schnurbein.
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