This is understandably the word on everyones lips give the current economic client.

The Socialist party campaign has turned its attention to job creation recently with a series of posters that dogmatically proclaim that “EU policies don’t work” as there are 20 million people in Europe unemployed.

But let’s take a a closer look EU unemployment. In July, unemployment for the EU 27 stood at 9%. It is far from a satisfactory state of affairs that just under 1 in 11 Europeans are out of work. Though it remains impressive that Europe is still doing better than the US in this regard, where the Bureau of Labor statistics says unemployment was 9.5% for the same period. Put in to context however, it should be remembered that in the same month Irish unemployment reached 12.5% or 1 in 8.

These statistics would also seem to go against a right wing orthodoxy that EU economies are cumbersome and moribund with regulation which is why unemployment is so high there as opposed to the US where government stays out of the way and business thrives and lowers unemployment in the process.

The EU has a record of tackling unemployment that stretches back to its inception in the 50’s with policies such as structural funds and free movement of goods, workers and capital proving invaluable for the development of the Irish economy.

The Treaty of Lisbon continues this tradition. It sets full employment as a vital union goal. Indeed, articles 145 – 150 of the consolidated treaty will show this.

Would it be too much to ask those against the Treaty look at the broader picture and perhaps even make reference to the actual treaty we are voting on rather than resort to sensationalist, emotive and ultimately misleading headlines?

Tags: Jobs, Unemployment

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 10th, 2009 at 10:05 am and is filed under Social Policy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.