The autumn edition of the Commission’s Employment and Social Development in Europe (ESDE) Quarterly Review 2016 published today, confirms that there has been an increase in employment in the EU in almost all Member States.
Between August 2015 and August 2016, an additional 3.2 million people were employed in the EU, 2.2 million of them in the euro area. There also has been a steady increase in the number of permanent jobs and full-time employment over the year. Unemployment in the EU is at its lowest rate (8.6%) since March 2009, with 1.6 million fewer unemployed people in the EU compared to last year.
Unemployment rates declined in 24 Member States, although large differences still exist. Long-term unemployment continued to decrease and now affects 4.2% of the labour force, compared to 4.9% one year ago. Youth unemployment in the EU also declined from 20.1% in August 2015 to 18.6% in August 2016. As already highlighted in the report on the Youth Guarantee and the Youth Employment Initiative, there are 1.4 million less young unemployed since the implementation of the schemes in 2013.
Finally, Europeans aged between 55 and 64 years are remaining active longer. More specifically, in the first quarter of 2016, close to 3 out of 4 persons within this age group was still part of the work force.
Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs, Skills and Labour Mobility Marianne Thyssen commented: “The increasing number of people that find a job shows that our efforts continue to pay off. There are 1.6 million fewer people unemployed in the EU than this time last year, 381.000 of them young people. This confirms the positive results in our Youth Guarantee and Youth Employment Initiative report we launched last week. However, we are not there yet. 4.2 million young people are still looking for a job and can’t be left behind. We will continue to invest in human capital and to support the upskilling of people to make them fit for the labour market, which more than ever demands a skilled labour force.”
