How unemployment rates relate to economic attitudes in the EU

The European Union’s overall unemployment rate is now at its lowest point since before the continent’s financial crisis began. But high unemployment remains a reality in several EU nations, and a growing share of new jobs in Europe are temporary, part-time or self-employed positions.

Against this backdrop, a new Pew Research Center analysis finds that people in EU nations with higher unemployment rates tend to voice more pessimism about future job prospects in their country. The analysis also finds that youth unemployment rates, as well as changes in a country’s gross domestic product, are linked to economic attitudes in EU member states.

Across 14 EU nations surveyed by the Center this year, a median of 54% of adults say they are pessimistic about the future availability of well-paying jobs in their country, ranging from just 28% who say this in Sweden to 76% in Spain and 80% in Greece.

These attitudes are connected with current economic conditions. The unemployment rate in Greece sat at 19.3% in 2018 – the highest in the EU, though down from its peak of 27.5% in 2013 – while Spain had a rate of 15.3% in 2018. By comparison, the unemployment rate was much lower in Sweden (6.3%) than in Greece and Spain, perhaps explaining why Swedes are less pessimistic about the future availability of well-paying jobs in their country.

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Πηγή: pewresearch.org