Imogen CalderwoodALL of the EU’s top five employment blackspots are in Spain, and Andalucia is the worst of the lot.
The Spanish regions of Andalucia, Ceuta, Melilla, the Canary Islands and Extremadura have the highest unemployment rates in the whole of Europe, according to new data from Eurostat.
The EU’s official statistics agency reported yesterday that all five regions have jobless rates of more than 33% in 2013, topped by Andalucia at 36.3%.
Ceuta followed with 35.6%, then Melilla with 34.4%, followed by the Canary Islands and Extremadura, with 34.1% and 33.7% respectively.
Castilla La Mancha and Murcia also appeared in the EU’s top 10, with unemployment rates of 30.1% and 29.4% respectively.
Of the other regions that featured in the top 10, two were in Macedonia and one was in the French colony of Reunion.
According to the report, 27 EU regions reported unemployment rates above 21%. Of which 13 are in Spain, 10 are in Greece, one is in Italy and three are French outposts.
On the other end of the scale, Germany recorded the best employment – with 23 regions with a jobless rate of 5.4% or lower.
Spain recorded an average unemployment rate of 26% for 2013, according to the data.
Eurostat’s data comes just a day after BBVA – Spain’s second largest bank – reported that the country’s unemployment could take up to a decade to recover from the financial crisis.
A combination of poor governance and German economic engineering, has not helped the ‘latin’ nations of Europe. Here in the UK, the Tory Govt are showing how they cook the books… take 2 friends both Unemployed due to no fault of their own. One receives Jobseekers Allowance, the other has been forced onto an unpaid ‘Workfare’ scheme at a Poundland Store in a town 10 miles away, but only receives the same amount of benefit as his friend. How many are counted in ‘official’ Unemployed figures ?
If the Workfare person fails to show for his placement, despite not being given any assistance for bus fares other than his jobseekers allowance, all his/her benefits are cut for upto 3mths and still does not show on figures.
Self-Employment figures have rocketed by a Million as people find ways around being deemed unemployed and forced into workfare. They can claim working tax credits as long as they tell HMRC they are active in work for 30hrs a week. The amount is the same as unemployment / jobseekers allowance but they are not forced into workfare.
You are not deemed unemployed if you are on a Zero Hours contract, the employer may not have any work for you for weeks. The Sick, Disabled and under-employed are also not counted as Unemployed. The true figure in the UK is around 10m or 27% of working age folk needing employment. (Excludes those who choose to stay at home to look after kids for example, or retired early).
All is not well with the Sick Man of Europe, figures massaged as they were in the 80’s and 90’s, 1 million requiring the services of foodbanks, Dave thinking and acting on behalf of some ‘God’, it is like having David Icke in charge !
Rajoy’s latest quote on unemployment after being asked what he was planning to do about it:
“Let’s see, er… measures to create employment? Well the truth is that something really strange happened to me, I wrote down the solution but I can’t read my own writing.”
David Icke would make a better president lol.