Record reduction in unemployment recorded in EU's poorest regions
According to Russkaya Germania, the crisis that hit the European Union at the end of the last decade did not have a positive effect on a significant part of Europeans, many of whom preferred to sit on social benefits or, given youth unemployment in Southern European countries, hang on their parents' necks.
The record in unemployment reduction was set by the southeastern region of Bulgaria, where it fell by 4.2% (to 12.6%) in just one year. In second place in the all-European ranking is Spain's poorest province, Extremadura, where, incidentally, there has recently been a boom in tourism. Despite the fact that the decrease of 4.1% can be called a real breakthrough, unemployment there remains at an extremely high level – 28%.
And overall, the labor market situation improved in all regions of Spain, which has the largest number of unemployed in the European Union. By current Spanish standards, minimum levels – around 15% – were reached in the Basque Country and Navarre. The situation even improved in sunny Andalusia, which for many years has held the title of the most unemployed region in a united Europe. In the homeland of flamenco and gazpacho soup, unemployment fell by 1.1% (to 34.8%).
Residents of Portugal also returned to work en masse. In Lisbon and Madeira, it fell by more than three percent, in other regions, including rural areas, by more than two percent. Similar rates were recorded in the north of the EU's Atlantic coast.
In all regions of Ireland, it fell by about two percent, in the southwestern regions of Great Britain and the Scottish outskirts – by 1.5−2%.
Regions in the far east of the European Union are also emerging from hibernation. A sharp decline in unemployment affected almost all of Hungary (from 2 to 3%), Eastern Slovakia (about two percent), as well as southern and northern Poland (from 1.5 to 2%). A revival was also recorded in the Baltic states (more than one percent).
In Germany, the overall reduction in unemployment was 0.2% (to five percent). The highest rates of decline were recorded in Leipzig (down 0.9 to 8.3%), Braunschweig (down 0.7 to 5.5%), Berlin and Brandenburg (down 0.6 to 9.8% and 6.7% respectively).
However, in the German capital, the number of so-called stagnant or long-term unemployed increased markedly (by 1.9%). Thus, now more than half of Berlin's unemployed – specifically 50.2% – have been without work for more than one year.