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.
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.
