MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Worst effects of European recession risk becoming permanent
The official unemployment rate for the 28 countries in the EU was 9.3% in September, down from 9.4% the previous month. The worst effects of the European recession risk becoming permanent in places, according to a left-leaning think tank. The IPPR's latest report pointed to the high level of unemployment and underemployment across Europe and said the chances of these becoming entrenched is “deeply alarming”. It said there was 10% unemployment and a 5% underemployment rate in Europe.
The UK's main problem was low productivity, the Institute for Public Research, PPR said.
The official unemployment rate for the 28 countries in the EU was 9.3% in September, down from 9.4% the previous month. The rate in the 19 countries that use the euro stood at 10.8%, down from 10.9% in August.
The IPPR said that unemployed workers risked being left behind as globalization and technological progress lead to changes in the skills that employers require.
The report suggested that European countries look to Germany as a good example of maintaining workplace skills and high productivity rates. Germany - Europe's largest economy - invests 50% more on average than other countries in research and development.
The report also found that the UK's in-work training had fallen by 4 percentage points since 2008 - the largest decline for any EU country.
The IPPR said it welcomed the apprenticeship levy and the target for creating three million apprenticeships. However, it called on the Chancellor, George Osborne, to hold off making any further cuts to the education and adult skills budget in Wednesday's Spending Review.
Catherine Colebrook, IPPR chief economist, said: “For the UK, the task for policy makers will be to ensure that the UK continues to invest in developing the skills it needs to compete globally.
”It is striking that adult participation in education and training in the UK has fallen since 2008 by more than in any other country, at a time when participation has increased across most of Europe. Investment in the country's skills should be a priority for the Chancellor.”
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Read all commentsStupid Mercopress, the UK Chancellor has one and only one priority and that is to clear the deficit by 2020, self congratulate and then say I would like to be Prime Minister. He will do this by obliterating public services and then back filling their roles with very cheap and very stupid private sector employees on minimum wage.
Nov 23rd, 2015 - 06:41 pm 0The British public are dumb enough to see this yet say nothing, but will be the first to complain when they require assistance from their once well trained and very capable public work force.
You get what you pay for, simple!
@1. I fail to see the connection between the title and foreword, and the substance of the article. The FACT is that the UK is doing far better than the eurozone. Whether Mr Osborne would like to be PM is irrelevant. Curiously, it would require a massive legislative programme to do anything other than affect the public sector. This is unfortunate for people who work, as I did, in the “public sector”. But there was a time when people sought employment in the public sector because they wanted to assist the nation and its people. This has changed over time as people working in the public sector have become tired of being denigrated all the time.
Nov 24th, 2015 - 12:04 pm 0The British public is, as you say, dumb because it cannot see that laws and regulations that make life as safe and economically viable as possible have to be administered. And who does that? It's a bit like demanding military protection but refusing to have an air force, army and navy.
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