Unemployment skyrockets in Socialist Europe

Socialist Europe creates massive youth unemployment

• 56.5% "official" youth unemployment in Spain.
• 19.7% "official" youth unemployment in Belgium.
• 37.1% "official" youth unemployment in Italy.
• 20.2% "official" youth unemployment in the United Kingdom.
• And we all know that the official numbers are phony to pacify the public.  The real numbers are far higher.

Unemployment in the eurozone jumped to a record high of 11.8% in November as the region slid deeper into recession, with alarming rises across the Mediterranean that threaten extreme social distress.

The UK Telegraph reports the jobless rate has reached an all-time high of 26.6% in Spain, rising to 56.5% for youth. It is much the same picture in Greece, where unemployment has spiked from 19% to 26% over the past year as austerity bites in earnest, with Portugal not far behind as it follows suit with draconian cuts. There are now 18.8 million people looking for work across the eurozone.

“A widening gap is emerging,” said Laszlo Andor, the European Social Affairs Commissioner. “Peripheral states appear to be caught in a downward spiral of falling economic output, rapidly rising unemployment and eroding individual incomes.”

Andor’s unemployment report said the welfare systems of southern Europe are unravelling as governments slash benefits, leaving families exposed to the full brunt of the crisis. The “automatic stabilisers” are no longer functioning properly.

He said there is a rising risk that the long-term jobless will fall into an “enormous poverty trap” if the crisis is allowed to drag on. “Severe material deprivation” has surged to 31% in Latvia and 44% in Bulgaria, casting doubts on claims that these two euro-pegged countries have shaken off the crisis .

France's Real Unemployment Rate May Be Triple The Official Figure
Updated figures show that France's unemployment rose in November for the 19th consecutive month, officially hitting 10.7 percent.

Recent reports from French daily Le Parisien says that if all these groups are included, France's real unemployment rate triples to 9 million workers. That would be in-line with the estimated real unemployment rates of other western countries, such as 23 percent for the United States and 16 percent for the United Kingdom.

French, Eurozone unemployment hits record highs

Spain’s long-term jobless now number 2 million, while the country’s GINI coefficient measuring inequality has risen from 31.2 to 34 since the crisis began.

Real household income, after tax, had fallen 17% in Greece, 8% in Spain, 7% in Cyprus, and 5% in Ireland between 2009 and 2011, a slide still gathering speed.  Andor said labor market reforms would bear fruit eventually, adding that the jobless rate may be near its peak in Spain.

Monthly youth unemployment rates for selected countries

Click heading to sort table. Download this data

Country	Nov 2011	Sep 2012	Oct 2012	Nov 2012
Source: Eurostat
EA17	21.6	23.8	24.2	24.4
EU27	22.2	23.2	23.5	23.7
Belgium	17.5	19.9	19.7	19.7
Bulgaria	26.7	26.1	26.8	27.4
Czech Republic	18.1	19.9	20.9	21.3
Denmark	14.4	12.9	13.7	14.2
Germany	8.2	8.1	8.1	8.1
Estonia	25.2	18.8	17.5	:
Ireland	30.5	30.1	29.9	29.7
Greece	50.3	57.6	:	:
Spain	48.8	54.6	55.8	56.5
France	22.9	25.6	26.4	27
Italy	32.2	35.9	36.5	37.1
Cyprus	26.2	27	:	:
Latvia	28.6	31.9	:	:
Lithuania	30.9	26.5	24.3	24.2
Luxembourg	17.6	18.1	18.6	18.6
Hungary	26.7	29.9	29.3	:
Malta	13.7	15.9	16.5	16.4
Netherlands	8.6	9.7	9.8	9.7
Austria	8.8	8.9	8.7	9
Poland	26.7	27.1	27.8	28.4
Portugal	34.4	38.9	39	38.7
Romania	24.8	23	:	:
Slovenia	15.3	23.5	:	:
Slovakia	32.8	34.7	35.3	35.8
Finland	19.7	19	19	19
Sweden	22.9	23.3	23	24.8
United Kingdom	22	20.2	:	:
Iceland	14.9	12.4	12.2	12.1
Norway	8.6	8.5	:	:
United States	16.8	15.5	16	15.6
Japan	8.5	7	7.7	8

(UK Telegraph)          (UK Guardian)