According to the latest figures from the Office for National
Statistics (ONS) UK unemployment has fallen by 5,000
.
The latest ONS data indicated 2.51 million people were out
of work in the three months to April. The jobless rate was unchanged from three
months earlier, at 7.8%. However, throughout the UK, a record 29.7 million
people are now in work.
Now compare the UK figures with those of France, Spain and
Italy.
In France they now have 3.26 million unemployed with two
uninterrupted years of monthly rises in their unemployment rate and a 1.2%
increase from March. Nearly 337,000 more people are out of work in France than
there were when François Hollande was elected in May 2012.
Unemployment is Spain at 26.8%, some 6.2 million people out
of work while their economy has shrunk -1.3% in the last two quarters.
Italy’s economy is projected to shrink by -1.8% this year
according to the OECD while their unemployment rate hits 12%, a thirty-six year
high.
Besides Germany these nations are supposed to be the pillars
of the European Union and that union is crumbling rapidly.
We need to get out now!
Care to explain how the high EU unemployment rate is a reason to leave the EU? Surely if the UK is adding jobs despite it's EU membership, there's no detrimental link?
ReplyDeleteSimple......we are not in the eurozone so have more control over our own economy. And if we left the EU altogether our borders would no longer be open to unskilled economic migrants, which would increase the job opportunties for our own people, and reduce welfare expenditure.
DeleteMany countries in the European Union are experiencing very slow economic growth and recession, and employment levels are suffering accordingly.
ReplyDeleteDeep and extended economic contraction, depressed business confidence and deteriorating profitability are among the factors currently feeding through to push unemployment up sharply across the Eurozone.
High unemployment tends to hurt growth in labour productivity and gross domestic product (GDP). It is also linked to higher rates of poverty, homelessness, income inequality, crime, poorer health outcomes, lower self-esteem, and social exclusion.
In order for a country to grow, one of the key ingredients is substantial foreign direct investment (FDI) that’s why China, Brazil and India are amongst the fastest growing economies with over 8% GDP growth. Two with the largest democracies, largest knowledge workforce and best countries to invested in.
If you were a global investor, or a multi-national looking to expand and open-up new markets, would you put your clients’ portfolio or shareholders capital in the heavily indebted European Union with their highly under financed banks and with the weight of the single currency regime presiding over their depressed domestic markets?
However, if you must invest in Europe; focus on the north. In particular, focus on Germany, which is still booming thanks to increased demand from China. Sweden is also knocking the trend, announcing impressive growth rates despite the depressing economic climate.
Of course this only one of the many reasons to relinquish our membership of the EU.
Which is all very interesting, but doesn't do away with the original contradiction. If EU membership leads to high unemployment (and leaving it would prevent this) then how come the UK is adding new jobs despite its continuing membership?
DeleteEither EU membership leads to higher unemployment in member countries - because of Brussels bureaucracy or trade rules or whatever - or it doesn't.
One of the main arguments for leaving the EU is so that we will be, once again, open to the world, rather than imprisoned within a trade bloc, which, although comprising a number of different nations, is essentially following a model of economic nationalism.
ReplyDeleteRather than a ‘common market’, the Single market is a regulatory instrument. It is not about freedom nor is it a free trade area.
Many of the burdens on British businesses come from the UK being politically subsumed within the EU’s Single Market. Remove them and watch business grow. As business grows so will employment.
If you cannot see the benefits of de-regulating many of the barriers to business expansion, perhaps you could explain how our further membership of a monoculture, which restricts enterprise, will dig this country out of its technical insolvency.
I hear a lot about how the EU places restrictions on UK businesses which prevent them reaching their full potential, but I rarely hear about what these restrictions actually are. (Also, you're assuming that if the EU didn't enforce a particular rule on us, the UK government wouldn't do either, which is surely debatable.)
ReplyDeleteLike it or not, despite them favouring some renegotiation, a majority of the business community is behind EU membership (various Chambers of Commerce and other surveys show this, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324030704578422613281720912.html, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/10067402/Economic-case-to-stay-in-EU-is-overwhelming-say-business-leaders.html) and with the proposed EU/US trade deal in the pipeline, others are getting twitchy about further UK investment, given the potential that the UK might leave.
This isn't to say that the EU is perfect, far from it, but I have just as many - if not more - quibbles with the Westminster Government, and yet I'm not demanding political anarchy.