This is andiscussing the disparity in unemployment rates in the Eurozone between the more prosperous northern countries and the struggling southern countries. From the linked article:
The difference between the northern and southern euro member states is striking. Austria, Germany and Luxembourg had jobless rates of 4.8 percent, 5.4 percent and 5.5 percent respectively, while Greece and Spain were the hardest hit with rates of over 26 percent each. Portugal”s unemployment stood at 17.5 percent.
The debt crisis is hitting young people particularly hard. In Greece, more than one in two people aged under 25 is without work — a staggering rate of 58.4 percent. In Spain, the rate is 55.7 percent, followed by Portugal with 38.2 percent and Italy at 37.8 percent.
Economic powerhouse Germany has the lowest youth unemployment at 7.7 percent. The average rate for the euro zone was 23.9 percent in Feburary, down slightly from January.
These high levels of unemployment are already leading to social unrest as we have seen in Greece and Spain. Members of an anti-evictions protest movement in Spain have become increasingly aggressive in harrassing members of the Spanish Parliament. Jobs are much more important to social stability than government handouts.
