Unemployment rules the world

In once prosperous Europe the number of unemployed youth is growing. The reasons of it are not only and not so much the crisis, but the unwillingness of young people to work. The authorities of the Old World, having realized that they have raised an infantile generation, predict a soon death of Europe.

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The Europeans are mostly affected by lack of work. The unemployment rate in the European Union is currently 10 percent. However, Europe is not entirely homogeneous in this sense. There are regions where the unemployed are relatively few, but there are countries where the unemployment rate is significant. The largest unemployment rates are observed in the European countries most affected by the crisis. These, above all, are Greece, Spain and Portugal. In Spain, about 25 percent of the population is unemployed, in Greece - 23 percent, and in Portugal - 15 percent. Slowly but surely, Italy is approaching the countries with the highest number of unemployed (10.5 percent). This year, the unemployment rate in these countries is much higher than it was a year ago.

The rise in unemployment in Europe also affected the former Soviet Union republics and the countries of Eastern Europe. According to the Federal Statistics Service, in March of 2012, the unemployment rate in Latvia was nearly 15 percent, in Lithuania - 14.3 percent, in Estonia - 11.7, Slovakia - 14 percent, in Hungary - about 11.2 percent of the total population. Moreover, in these countries unemployment mainly decreased since 2011. More or less acceptable level of unemployment is in Austria, Germany, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. In Germany and Luxembourg, the unemployment rate is at about 5.4 percent, in Austria - 4.5 percent, in the Netherlands - 5.1 percent.

The younger generation of Europeans is hit by unemployment particularly hard. Now its level in the age group of 17 to 25 is on average 22.5 percent, and in terms of numbers it is about 8 million. Here, the situation is also not uniform: the highest number of unemployed young people is observed in Greece (54 percent), Spain (53 percent), as well as in Portugal, Italy and Ireland - in these countries, about 30 percent of young people cannot find work. Less dramatic situation is in France (32.4 percent) and the UK (21.7 percent), and other more or less prosperous countries of Europe. In these states, the unemployment rate is particularly high among the young migrants who came from Arab countries - many of them, like their older relatives, are dependent on welfare, and are not in a hurry to get a job.

As for young Europeans out of work, it should be noted that many of them, and this is true not only of migrant families, sometimes do not intend to find work. At times they take very long to look for work because they believe that jobs with low wages are below their dignity. Many young people also do not want to open their business, preferring to live on welfare.

Dependency on welfare among young people in the Old World is rampant, which undermines the country's stability - many young people, accusing their government of the current situation, support the left-wing protest movement and organize demonstrations, demanding social justice, which sometimes results in these massacres. László Andor, EU Commissioner for Employment, said that now it is necessary to take all measures to ensure that today's young Europeans do not become a "lost generation." If they do, the talk about social and economic disaster in Europe will be appropriate.

Youth unemployment is high in other regions of the world. In the Middle East, due to economic and political instability in the region, the unemployment, according to the International Labor Organization (ILO), is 26.4 percent. In North Africa, where the situation is also not stable, the level of unemployment among young people is also high - about 27.5 percent. Relatively well in this regard, is the situation in Latin America as well as in East and South Asia and the APEC countries. In Latin America, the unemployment rate among young people is about 14.6 percent, in Asia - about 9.5 percent, in the southern part of Asia - 9.6 percent, and in the APEC region- 13.1 percent. This is probably due to the fact that these regions are least affected by the economic crisis, and the countries continue to develop economically, engaging masses in the labor market, including young people.

China has a relatively low unemployment rate - about 4.1 percent. This year, China will create 9 million new jobs, and funds are allocated for these purposes.

In the U.S. the unemployment situation is not optimistic either. Over the last three years the unemployment rate was hovering at 8.2 percent. About 15 percent of the U.S. population lives below poverty line. The current unemployment situation is the worst in the entire post-war history of the country.

Unemployment in Russia, according to Rosstat, is about 6.5 percent. Yet, Russia is mixed in this regard. In Ingushetia in the first quarter of 2012 unemployment rate of 48.9 percent was recorded, and in Chechnya - 35.3 percent. At the same time, as of March 2012, unemployment in Moscow was at 1 percent and in St. Petersburg - 1.4 percent, and in the entire Leningrad region this number does not exceed 3.1 percent. With regard to youth unemployment, among young people under the age of 25, according to head of the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Russia Mikhail Shmakov, in February of 2012 27 percent were unemployed.

There are different data in this regard - according to Rosstat, in March in Russia there were about 16.8 percent of young people under 24 out of work. Fedor Prokopov, Executive Vice President of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, believes that the high level of youth unemployment in Russia is due to the fact that about 90 percent of Russia's young people have college education, and therefore, the level of expectations in terms of finding jobs is somewhat high. Many believe that higher education guarantees good income, so many reject job offers.

Tatiana Dolyakova, CEO of the recruitment agency Penny Lane Personnel, believes that the level of unemployment in Russia will fall when people have more opportunities to create small businesses. The state should help to ensure that small businesses feel comfortable in Russia, and the increase in the level of employment, among other things, requires financial investment in socially responsible business. In her opinion, public prestige of professionals, regardless of activity, shall be raised. The labor market in Russia is suffering from an acute shortage of specialists in all areas, not least due to the distortions in the Russian education and the inability of Russian colleges and universities to produce high-class specialists who would find their rightful place in the labor market.

A number of experts are looking into the future with cautious optimism. According to experts from ManpowerGroup Employment Outlook, employers in 32 countries out of 41 surveyed plan to increase hiring in their companies in the second half of this year. The largest decrease in unemployment is expected in the U.S. and the least promising prospects in this regard are in Greece, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Spain. According to the ILO, the youth unemployment rate in the world in the coming years will decrease, but not by much - a total of 0.2 percent by 2017. In developed European countries unemployment among young people can be reduced by 1.9 percent. In the countries of the Middle East, youth unemployment will increase in 2 years by 2 percent.

As for Russia, the experts of ManpowerGroup Employment Outlook do not believe that the situation in Russia will deteriorate. Of particular relevance in the labor market will be personnel involved in IT, pharmaceuticals, sales, manufacturing, consumer goods, as well as telecommunications.

However, experts from the Ministry of Economic Development of Russia say that in the near future the crisis raging in Europe will impact Russia. In this context, in 2015 the number of unemployed in the country could increase by about 900 thousand people.

Sergei Vasilenkov

Pravda.Ru 

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