For many countries in Europe significant, unexploited sources of economic growth remain and unemployment rates across the EU 28 are well above the level recorded before the recession started in 2008—though they have dropped slightly from a peak in early 2013.
With an average unemployment rate of 17.1 per cent, the sub-set of countries at the centre of much political and media attention at various points over the past five years—Italy, Spain, Portugal, Ireland, Greece and Cyprus—have some of the highest unemployment rates across EU Member States.
Greece has the highest level of total unemployment, with over half of the population under the age of 25 looking for work. In this context, the recent pledge made by Alexis Tsipras to favour the jobless over creditors is unsurprising. A high level of unemployment tends to impact disproportionately on young job seekers as they struggle to compete against older, more experienced workers for a job. President Michael D Higgins identified the extent of youth unemployment across Europe as the greatest challenge facing the Union. Indeed, marginalisation of young people in the labour market is associated with lasting negative outcomes on happiness, job satisfaction, wages and health, while holding back the potential of the economy to grow.
In the Republic, the unemployment rate peaked at 15.1 in the opening months of 2012 and has been declining steadily since. According to recent data from the CSO there are 245,500 people looking for work, with the vast majority looking for full-time employment. The table below gives an overview of the number of males and females currently looking for work in Ireland and the breakdown of those looking for part-time and full-time employment.
Strong economic growth in Ireland compared to the EU 28 average appears to have slowly, but steadily, decreased the rate of unemployment over the past 36 months; however, Ireland remains marginally above the EU 27 average and significant challenges remain, particularly in the area of youth unemployment.