Unemployment in the European Union in the perspective of the economic crisis of 2008-2013

Abstract

The unemployment level is strictly related to the dynamics in GDP. The increasing unemployment rate recorded from 2008 in the EU and other countries around the world corroborates the strong mutual relation o f these indices. An analysis o f statistics has demonstrated that the increase in the number o f the unemployed during a time of crisis is highest in the most flexible markets which are also deprived of the efficient principles o f the flexicurity model recommended by the EU. Additionally, the examined data indicate that school graduates entering the labor markets in these countries are in the most difficult position. Other surprising conclusions resulted from a comparison of the level of social expenditure and the cost of labor market programs to the unemployment rate. The analysis undermined the assumptions of the market economy, as higher expenditure for these purposes was not accompanied by high unemployment rates before the crisis. This calls for consideration, and is indicative o f the fact that increasing social expenses during a crisis are only a consequence of an increasing unemployment rate, rather than the other way round, as suggested by the proponents of liberal doctrines.